


Your Way

by ThatWriterRose



Category: The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: Angst, Canon Compliant, F/M, Fights, Fluff, Found Family, Injury, Internal Monologue, Non-Canonical Violence, Romance, Semi Slow Burn, Slow Burn, at least for the time being, parenting
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-05
Updated: 2021-03-06
Packaged: 2021-03-16 00:01:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 40,855
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28572696
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThatWriterRose/pseuds/ThatWriterRose
Summary: They have a foolproof system Din goes on the missions and Hela keeps the Razor Crest from falling apart. It has been the way things were done for the last three years until the child comes into their lives and shakes everything up. Will adding another person to their group make everything better or stir up secrets neither of them wanted to admit to?
Relationships: Din Djarin/Original Female Character(s)
Kudos: 10





	1. Chapter 1

The ship is quiet, something that is rare while it is usually free of dialogue there are whirrs of gears and the pressing of buttons that calmed her. With neither to lull the woman to sleep, she sits in the ship. She is trying to busy herself cleaning but there’s really no use all she’s doing, in the end, is waiting for him to get back. The bounties never take long though so she knows it wouldn’t be very long now. Making her way over to one of the windows she glances over at the icy view not seeing anyone in sight.

Letting out a sigh she makes her way back through to the sleeping quarters where she sits on the bed trying to fix her hair. Braiding dark hair so it’s out of her face she wonders where he could be what was taking so long. It isn’t until she hears the ship open again that she feels some relief though she knows that she should wait for him to tell her it’s safe. He'll have to get the bounty ready but she’s eager.

Listening she hears a set of footsteps but they aren’t familiar so she knows something is wrong. She stands looking around the room for something she could use to defend herself. Grabbing a staff she listens as the man rambles on no doubt thinking he has some incredible distraction while he makes his daring escape. It would be amusing if it wasn’t so obvious they all did this in some way most just talked a lot less about molting when they did. Making her way out she is headed down the hall when she hears that familiar voice. She could’ve usually heard the steps but he was being quiet as to not scare the bounty.

When she makes her way over the man is prepared to be in carbonite. Brown eyes look to the helmet then watch as he looks up and down at her looking to the staff she had. Looking at the staff she lets out a laugh, “Look it was the first thing I could find. Besides he doesn’t look frightening I think I could’ve taken him even without the staff, Din.”

“Of course you could’ve, Hela.” The man assures her before getting the man ready to be frozen in carbonite. He was the last of the bounties to round up and he could now bring them all to get paid then onto the next job. It was an endless cycle as people were always jumping bail or doing what was found to be worthy of the bounty hunter.

When Din comes back from his next trip he wonders what he can even say. Thinking of how little they had to go off, he was unsure about what this was but he has to do this. It’s the best job they’ve got and he’ll get it done as fast as he can. Making his way to the ship he calls out for Hela watching her come out of one of the rooms. “I have my next mission we should head out.” He tells her before he nods towards the front of the ship. 

“Alright what is it this time a bail jumper- a criminal who left custody?” Hela asks as she goes to the front and goes to have a seat. She had to ask about these things because she knows that he’ll leave her behind to go do the job so she wants to know what to prepare for. She’ll prepare whatever way she can for when he comes back with his bounty.

“They gave very little information, no puck, just an age,” Din tells her as he gets the ship turned on. He isn’t sure why he always tells her these things, probably because he knows she’ll ask 30 questions when he gets back so he’ll do this now. He flies them out, “Oh the age is 50.” He realized he hadn’t told her that and she would ask if he didn’t say so.

Nodding Hela watches him fly away wondering why they had told him so little, “What did they do? I mean surely they told you at least that.” 

Din shakes his head, “They only told me 50 years old, and bringing him back alive was going to get a far better bounty than bringing them back dead. They wouldn’t say much more only what I’ve told you but I’ll try to tell you what I can when I bring back the bounty.” Once he had given the bounty back he wouldn’t talk about it again which he had a feeling was better. “Do you want to fly the ship?”

“Tempting but I have some work to do I’m gonna go now that you’ve got the ship steadied,” Hela tells him before she leaves heading to ready for the trip out whenever he gets to the mystery destination. She doesn’t have the armor he does but she can work with what she has. Mostly it’s about covering your skin from the climate and for her covering her face. She’s wrapping up her face and hair when Din walks into the room and looks at her.

“That’s not going to happen.” The man tells her as he makes his way over. He’s happy he’d come in and see what she was doing. He'd wanted to say goodbye but she was getting ready as if she was going to leave with him. “I have work to do, I can’t look after you, El.”

Hela looks back at him frustrated he didn’t even give her a moment to speak; it was already a no. She knew he cared and that he not only wanted her safe but he wanted this to go right. Still, she wasn’t going to step down she refused, “I won’t spend my life sitting in this ship waiting for you to return. Besides I won’t need protection I can handle myself. I'll bring something more than a staff with me this time I promise.” It’s a joke of course but she can tell that he is far from amused by it. “Din. I can handle more than you think.”

The man considers it only for a moment before he nods, “I get to choose what you bring with you.” He tells her before the two head out and he grabs her a blaster, “You know how to shoot this don’t you?”

“I’m insulted that you have to ask.” Hela tells him with a smile though she thinks by his tone he was joking, had he been teasing her? It was hard to tell with him sometimes but this time she’ll take it as a joke and enjoy that. Leaving the ship they are met by danger right away and Din thinks he can handle it though he is incorrect. 

Hela does her best; she gets in a shot but it isn’t that effective. She wonders if they’d brought the best blaster. Maybe the staff she’d joked about would’ve been better as she could’ve whacked it on the head to get the thing off of Din. It’s only with the help of someone else, a man riding one of the same beasts that had nearly bitten off Din’s arm that they’re saved. She’s concerned and wants nothing more than to fuss right at him but Din brushes it off and so does she.

“I’ve decided that I’ll help you.” The man tells them before bringing the two of them back to his own home. On the way there Hela places a hand on Din’s non-injured arm wanting him to look at her. The two exchange a look and she knows he’s okay while she can’t see his face. She knows his tells and the way he speaks. Reading the man had become easy over time and she could know even with so little information that he would be just fine.

Sitting in the hut she looks around trying to act as if she isn’t hanging off every word in the conversation. Hearing the man tell her how many have died trying to get this bounty it has to be incredible whatever it was for such a high price and so many were willing to die in hopes of catching it. They’ll get it though she just has a feeling that whatever this bounty is Din will be able to catch it because if anyone could it was him.

“Well, then I don’t know if I want your help.” He says in his matter-of-fact tone which earns the man a glare back from Hela though he chooses to ignore it instead, asking the other man what his cut will be. He can handle some loss in this profit but why would he want to hand half over to this man when so many people had died at his hands? “Half the bounty to guide? Seems steep.” There’s another glare digging into his helmet but he won’t look.

“No half of the blurrg you helped capture.” The man says before he gestures outside where the beasts they had subdued laid waiting. Hela made a note of what they were called; she'd never heard of them or seen them. Then again how could she have between a quiet life and spending all her time on the ship it was no surprise.

“The blurrg? You can keep them both.” Din says he has no use for them, what was he going to do? Befriend the beast that had nearly taken his arm off? Just thinking about it nearly has him reaching for his arm. He resists the urge though ready to strike this deal if all it will take is letting the man keep those things.

The man scoffs, “No you will need one to ride. The way is impossible to pass without a blurgg.” He says this as if everyone knows it what he doesn’t know is just how dreadful Din is riding anything especially a creature like that which probably hated him for what he’d done. He’ll hear no arguments though because the man decides that he’ll get Din to ride and it is final. Hela had never though, she’d meet anyone as stubborn as Din but here she was and it was the best thing to happen to her in a long time.

Getting Din on the blaarg proved difficult as every time he tried the beast would only throw him off. As painful as it looked Hela couldn’t help but bite back a laugh each time. The time she couldn’t hold back the laugh was when she got her own nasty look, something she’d earned so she took it from him with only a wink as a rebuttal.

“Perhaps if you removed your helmet.” The man suggests as if it would’ve helped any of the times that Din had fallen. He had been trying to help with little suggestions here and there but nothing seemed to be working the bounty hunter and the blaarg were seemingly not compatible.

“I’m afraid it’s out of the question,” Hela tells him before she makes herself comfortable in a seat next to the instructor. “Giving him any sort of guidance won’t help either. He is the most stubborn person in the galaxy.” She adds though it’s quiet mostly to herself lucky for her that point is proven when Din speaks again.

“Perhaps he remembers that I tried to roast him,” Din suggests as he contemplates not getting up. Surely there has to be some other way he can get to his bounty’s location because this just isn’t going to work for him or the beast.

“This is female; the males are eaten during mating.”

Hela smiles, “Oh what beautiful creatures they are… truly.” She stands up and walks over to the edge of the fence wondering if she could get the beast to behave for her. Din wouldn’t let her though some mixture of pride and stubborn nature. Besides he gets back on before she can jump over the fence and he is thrown off once again. He’s ready to give up when he’s given a surprising pep talk the best the instructor has given yet.

Din makes his way over slowly trying to coax the creature speaking carefully and keeping his hands where it can see. He is amazed by how calm it is once he tries this and sure enough, he’s able to get on. He looks to their guide and of course to Hela her eyes show a smile that his otherwise hidden by her face, he can read her as well as she reads him.

They’re off soon enough, their guide taking them out as Din and Hela are seated on a blaarg. “What you don’t trust me?” Din asks quietly as he feels just how tightly her arms are around him.

Hela rolls her eyes, “Shut up, Mandolorian.” She says quietly though she only proves his point as she grips tighter when the beast jumps over the cracks in the land. Her breath catches and she goes dead silent trying not to seem as frightened as she truly was.

The guide leaves them and they’re on their own again, “Do you regret joining me on this mission?” He asks looking over to her he knows that she wanted out of that ship but he wonders if this was the mission if she really felt like this was something she could handle.

“Not for a moment,” Hela assures him before she looks down seeing how much to Din’s dismay a droid is out there. She knows how he feels about them but especially about the bounty droids so she knows this won’t end well. 

“I’ll bring you down there with me but you’ll stay behind do you hear me?” Din asks. He had already let her talk him into having her on the mission. He wasn't about to let her stick her neck out for this part of the mission. “I’ll let you steer the blaarg on the way back.” He tells her, another joke though he’s not sure if she gets that. He never knew why his jokes were harder for her to take, maybe it was just his delivery.

Hela lets out a sigh, “Alright I’ll stay behind if you steer the blaarg I don’t want anywhere near the thing especially not steering it.” She comes down though he finds a place to hide her and she decides that she’ll be good for once, that she’ll stay out of harm's way.

It was the right move as she hears blasters going off left and right. It makes her nervous tapping her own blaster as she considers what her options are. He’ll kill her if she goes after him and she’ll never hear the end of it this much she knows but she can’t just stay there. What if he ends up dead? She doesn’t have much time to consider it as the shooting seems top stop.

Getting out of her corner she looks around watching as Din and the droid enter a room. She wants to follow but she knows better than to do that the droid doesn’t know who she is, it'll only shoot without hesitation. There’s another shot though and she can’t help it running in with her blaster out ready to shoot, lowering it when she sees that the droid is the one that is down.

Making her way over she sees Din and something silver floating above the ground. She puts the gun away coming over to them she rests a hand on Din’s arm before she looks over at the small one floating inside the pod, “I thought you said that the bounty was fifty years old.”

Din looks over at Hela then back to the bounty a small cooing child, “All species age differently- he could live for centuries.” He suggests repeating the deceased droid's own words. 

Hela unravels her cover so the child can see her face. He seems interested, looking back at her. “Well hello there little one, who are you?” She asks before smiling at the child. 

It’s a smile Din can see with his own two eyes, not just something he reads through her eyes or her tone. It amazes him about as the asset itself does. He only stops looking at her when the child lets out coo touching his green hand to Din’s gloved hand.

“I think he’s fond of you,” Hela comments as she watches the child look quizzically at the masked man.

Din looks back to Hela again before he nods, “Perhaps you’re right, El.”


	2. Chapter 2

Hela walks on one side of the floating sphere still trying to figure out how it works, if anything one of them could carry the child and they could use the parts. She has a brief thought but she’ll keep it to herself figuring she should save it as a sort of last resort. Instead, she watches the child who looks at everything with a sense of wonder that she finds so sweet. Fifty years or not there was still an innocence. She must’ve been too lost in it as before he realizes it others have come upon them no doubt to take back the asset.

Din pushes the asset back and Hela is quick to follow it there shooting at one of the attackers as it comes near the child. “Not your worst shot.” He says, a high compliment for the Mandolorian. She rolls her eyes and lets out a laugh, her own thank you back to him. Such words were rare so halfway compliments and the sort of thank yous felt more sincere. It isn’t until they’re done speaking that either realizes he’s hurt.

When they go to sit down she swats his hands away, “If you don’t let me do this I swear Din.” She tells him as she tries her hardest to get his wound looking better. It is far from her area of expertise but with all the time she has spent at Din’s side she’s gotten better at mending wounds. Suddenly she feels a tap on her leg and she looks over to the child who is right next to her. “How did you get out of there, little one?”

“He had plenty of time you’ve been at this for ages,” Din tells her before he gets up and walks over and picks up the child to put him back in his floating carrier. “I think I’ll give it a try for once.” He says before he tries to get back to work himself only for the child to come between them.

“I think he wants to help you… with your wound.” Hela suggests she’d seen how the child had eagerly reached for it maybe he thought he could help. As young as he looked, he was still an old being in some ways maybe he knew more than they thought.

“How do you suggest he would do that?” Din asks as he picks up the child and puts him back in again hoping this time he’ll stay put. He makes sure of it by shutting the carrier hoping the little one will just get some sleep, they’ve got a long journey ahead of them. “Now let's go we’ve got a long night ahead of us.”

The journey back to their ship is long and is only made longer when they come back to their ship being ransacked. Using a long-range weapon Din is able to get rid of at least some of them and those that aren’t gone make haste to leave with Din making quick work to stop the ship.

“Din- this is why I never join him on these trips,” Hela says watching as he makes his way up to the ship. She’d follow but she figured it best that she stay with their little bounty until she looks over and sees that he’s gone. Realizes the bounty is chasing after the ship as well she runs to chase it knowing how bad it will be if she is the one to lose the child.

When she catches up to the child it’s next to a passed out Din. She stops to catch her breath before speaking, “He moves fast.” She says jokingly though no jokes will make up for this. Their ship is no doubt useless going back to it; they find nothing left for them. Anything that can be stripped from it is gone. Looking to the loose wires and empty compartments Hela can’t begin to fathom how they fix this mess. The child is a distraction though as he makes his way into the ship alongside them.

“Come here you,” Hela tells the child before she goes to put him in his carrier. She exchanges a look with Din, they’ll make it work. The first stop they make is to the man who had trained Din in riding the blaarg. Din of course has to take out his frustrations on the man not directly but in his own sort of passive-aggressive way.

Hela ignores them both trying to look at the child’s carrier once he has gotten out of it. She knows it won’t give them answers to fixing their ship but it’ll be something. As someone who fixes she needs busy work. She won’t have to do that busy work at least not yet as they’ve got a mission, a mission to go get back their pieces, one that Din doesn’t like.

As Din gets down from the ship she looks at him and sighs, “I know… I know I need to stay behind.” Hela assures him before she looks back at the child. She sits with him as they speak tensing as two of them come close to the child. She nearly reaches for the gun when Din tells them instead to get away from them, they’ll negotiate something else.

Hela is trying to listen when she raises a brow, “Egg- do you know something about an egg?” She asks before she looks at the child who only coos back in response. She smiles and gently pats his back, “Yeah I figured not but it’s worth a shot.”

They’re let into the ship and she has a look at the parts some there are others no doubt stolen from the ships of other innocent people. She’ll bite her tongue though instead of staying along for the bumpy ride. At one of the rather nasty bumps, she puts a hand on her Din’s arm to steady herself. “I think I could be sick.”

“I’d prefer if you didn’t… they may not be so keen to give us back our parts if you get sick all over their equipment,” Din tells her though when he glances over at her she doesn’t find that all too funny. He gives her own arm a sympathetic pat hoping that they’re near wherever this egg is. Then again with as exhausted as the idea made their guide he didn’t know if that was where he wanted to be.

Getting off the ship with Hela at one side and the child at the other the sinking feeling never leaves Din’s stomach. They start the trek and he doesn’t know what to expect. Looking around they find a cave and he makes his way up before he hears a noise come out getting himself ready to enter. “Make sure the child stays behind this time.”

“I’ll try but I think he has more power than you think,” Hela tells him. She’ll disagree but not enough to follow into the cavern. She stays behind only for whatever was in there to spit him out, “Din are you alright?!”

“Just fine,” Din says as he gets his weapon ready to aim only for the best to come right back at him. He can’t be saved but he is able to move the child when the beast charges at it. The beast keeps coming at him and though Hela shoots her blaster tries to get its attention it will only charge at Din. 

Hela watches as Din holds up the last of what he has to defend himself with. She’s ready to run up but she can't. It's like she hits an invisible wall, “Din- Din!” She calls out only to see the beast start to hover in the air. Her eyes go wide and she looks over at Din again now safe his gaze goes elsewhere so she follows it to the child. His eyes are closed and his hand is lifted as he concentrates, is he doing this?

The beast drops and Din is able to get his blade into it. Once she’s sure it’s safe she runs over, “What happened are you- are you fine? What can I do?” She asks frantically trying to reach out for him to help him stand up properly.

Instead of answering any of her questions or even assuring her that he’s fine Din limps his way over to the child. He looks down where he is passed out from exhaustion no doubt but still fine. He moves his head and coos and Din can only look in awe. He decides to leave it be, going back to the cave where he finds the egg.

They bring the egg back to the Jawa who cracks it open and then the whole group starts to eat its innards, a sight that churns Hela’s insides more than the bumpy ride had. Still, it meant the deal was made and they get back everything that was taken from their ship. With everything loaded back onto their guide's boat, they make their way back.

Making their way back the usually quiet Din tells their guide about what had happened, the child lifting his hand and the beast coming up off the ground. Hela’s eyes go wide and she bumps her knee against his own trying to quiet him. Does he really think it’s wise to tell these sorts of things to anyone? She knew the man had helped them but it wasn’t safe for many people to know what the child had done. He doesn’t seem to get that though and they talk more about the child on the way back wondering what it could’ve been. 

When they get back they’ve got the parts, all that’s left is to put it together, “We need a proper way to do this- this is going to take days to fix.” Din says.

“Well I’ve done a lot better with far worse circumstances,” Hela promises with a smile. While she may not be the master of his weapons or fighting large beasts this was where she would shine. Getting right to work she takes a tool from their friend and heads inside. 

The three of them work together as the child sleeps still exhausted from his adventure. She’s eager to do this and happy to have the help. When all is said and done, the few days that Din had suggested turns into only the night. Once checks are done they’re ready to head out the only thing left is to say goodbye to their friend.

“Let me give you a portion of my reward,” Din suggests only to be shut down. He can’t let the man who had done all of this work go away empty-handed. “I could use a crew member of your ability and I can pay handsomely.” It wouldn’t make up for what the man had done so far but it would be something he could do so Din had to try though, of course, he was turned down again. With no other options, he could only give the man his thanks something he seemed to greatly appreciate.

“Thank you for everything that you’ve done for us,” Hela tells the man watching as he leaves the ship ready to go back to his own home. “You know this handsome pay you speak of… when do I earn that?” She asks as they watch the man leave.

Din chuckles before the doors shut and they both head up to the front of the ship. He gets the child settled before he goes to sit in his own seat. He looks over at Hela whose face is showing again as she drops her coverings and relaxes back into the seat. He looks back to the front and starts the ship before he nods to their friend.

They leave and Hela looks out the window watching their guide become just a blip before they’re out into space. She’s watching the stars for a while until the ship starts to drift along as Din turns to shake the child’s carrier. “Don’t wake him up. He needs to rest after what just happened. I’m sure that it’s exhausting lifting a beast that size.” She scolds watching as the child luckily isn’t stirred in his sleep.

Din looks back to the front only for the cooing to begin again, confirmation that the child is fine. It was all he had really needed. He wanted to know that the child hadn’t used the last of his energy getting him to safety. It would be bad for the reward of course but more than anything he didn’t think he could live with himself knowing he had caused something bad happening to the child he had already fought so hard to protect.

It’s quiet for a while and Hela is starting to doze off but she knows it’ll kill her neck later if she sleeps there. Getting up she walks over to Din’s seat and rests a hand on his arm, “I’m going to go lie down for a while come get me when you’re tired and I’ll switch you places.”

“I’ll be fine,” Din assures her he could take long rides like this, it was calming to him. He could clear his mind only thinking about the destination. It was better for him than any amount of sleep or so he told himself.

Hela smiles, “I’m sure you can go all night long but I don’t want you to so come to get me when you’re ready to rest.” She tells him before she places a careful kiss on the top of his helmet, “And I’m taking the poor child with me so he can get some more rest.

“Alright, I’ll come and wake you up later to switch places,” Din assures her before he watches her walk over and pick the child up. He fits into her arms with such ease she acts like she’s done this forever watching them leave he ends up looking back out to the stars. 

He considers leaving them alone to rest but after a considerable amount of time alone he feels the exhaustion of the long night come over him. He gets the controls set up before he goes back to the sleeping chambers. He finds them both sound asleep, the child was nestled up against Hela and they both looked so peaceful. He reaches out to push some hair out of her face before he sighs. He’ll regret it later but he turns to quietly leave heading back up to the front. He knows where they’re headed so the ship could get itself there. He gets as comfortable as he can in the seat and is able to rest thinking about how he’d found them sleeping as he closed his eyes.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! I realized I didn't say this before but in my head Hela's faceclaim is Q'orianka Kilcher. Hela is a woman of color and I'm sorry for not saying that right off the bat. I've also got a fic aesthetic board on my Pinterest thatwriterjennih if you'd like to feel the vibe I've got. I hope you enjoy!

Hela gets up finally looking down to see the child nestled against her and smiles. She’d tried to tell him a story to get him to fall asleep which had clearly worked as the child was fast asleep. She carefully gets up and picks up the child taking him back with her to the front putting him in his carrier, “So much for coming to get me.” She teases before she gets back into her own seat.

Din looks over his shoulder at Hela, “Oh… I must have forgotten you said that, my apologies.” He tells her before he gets his call ready. He had told them he had the bounty and though he was hesitant the client seemed ready to take him which was good, he thought so anyway. Once he finishes he looks over and takes a part out of the child’s mouth, “That’s not a toy.” He scolds as he puts him back into his carrier wondering just what future lay in store for his little friend.

Hela looks over at the child as they land. She knows she can’t be there for this part but she hates it. She wants to figure out what they’ll do with the child. Before they leave the front of the ship though she walks over and smiles stroking the child’s cheek, “I wish you only safe travels my little one.” The child coos and reaches up putting a hand on the pendant of her necklace wrapping it in his tiny fist. She smiles and takes it off-putting it around the child’s neck watching how he grips the pendant tight, “Something to remember us both by.”

Din gives them those last few moments before he takes the child away leaving the ship looking back at Hela as it shuts. He makes the journey with the child only able to think about whether he’d hang it or eat it. This was important he had to give the bounty over, or did he? He knocks on the door still watching the two men come out before he follows in.

The child is scanned and taken away as he looks at the bounty that he has been given. “What are your plans for it?” He asks only to be met with vague answers. Unsure of what to do at that moment he closes it up and leaves not knowing if what he had done was a mistake or the reward he deserved for such a difficult task.

Hela is sure that she has taken apart and put back together every piece of the smaller engine twice but she can’t help it. All she can think about is the child wondering what its faith will be. She hates to consider it because she knows with such a high reward it can’t be good especially if the child had such abilities. She is ready to take it apart again when she hears the ship open again. Getting up she cleans her hands off and pulls herself out waiting to hear confirmation that it’s him.

“El,” Din says it’s simple and he heads to the front and starts to get the ship ready to go. There’s another mission waiting and he has to get right to it. Well, he doesn’t have to, he could take that break that was suggested but he wouldn’t. It was right back to work for him as he always did even after the more taxing missions.

Hela heads back to the front smiling as she looks at his armor, “Look at you so fancy.” She says reaching out to touch the side of his helmet. Before she can though he turns his head and gets a few more switches flipped. Taking in a breath she goes to sit in her seat looking at the other now so painfully empty, “It’s a shame I was hoping you would change your mind and come back with the child.”

“Well, I didn’t.” Din mumbles before he goes to pull one of the levers only to realize the top of it is off, the top he’d caught the child playing with. He looks back at the seat just like she had, taking in a breath. He screws it back on ready to go only to hesitate for just a moment before he powers down the engine and gets up.

“Din- Din what are you doing?” Hela says before she gets up with him. She follows quickly after knowing this can’t be good. He doesn’t even fight her when she grabs follows after him so she knows it’s serious. Standing back she watches as he asses the area knowing he’s off to get the child again. She smiles before following after him only to have that smile fall as she sees the pod in the trash. She’d assumed the end wasn’t going to be good for the child but she had least hoped something should happen.

“When did you get here?” Din asks as he looks over at her confused. He’d been so in the heat of the moment he hadn’t even noticed that he’d been followed by Hela.

“Does it really matter? Let's go get him I’ll follow your lead.” Hela says before she heads with him to the front of the building. Staying a few careful steps behind he defeats two of the men then another two she is able to take one of their blasters though she won’t use it unless she has to. They’re loud and the element of surprise won’t be something they had. Going into the room she looks at the child on the scanner picking him up as Din asks questions.

Getting the child wrapped up against her chest she still keeps a careful arm cradling him the other hand on a blaster. They don’t have to go far before they’re followed by more of the men but Din being the great shot he is gets them one by one. They get out and they’re surrounded she lowers the blaster she’d stolen and lifts her hands up so they can see she means no harm. 

Din is one step ahead of them shooting them all down. The leave and she keeps her head low having a careful hand on the child. She can feel eyes on them and Hela’s heart starts to race. When she lifts her head they’re surrounded. They’re told to put the kid on the speeder and she nods slowly make her way over. Din stays at her side letting them think that’s exactly what will happen until he pushes her in and starts shooting.

Hela keeps him close to her chest trying to figure out what she can do to help. Taking Din’s other blaster from his side holding her hand out and shooting at a few. They get too close and Din ensures they stay far away but shots fire at them, “Any plans?” Hela asks as she looks around at the people surrounding them getting out a few more shots.

“Not a single one,” Din admits before looking down at the child. Much to his surprise though they find help in the form of the others of the Mandolorian. They shoot and take down every single one of the bounty hunters who were out to get them. With one last greeting to his brothers, the three of them are gone heading back to the ship.

Getting into the ship Hela feels a sense of relief they have the child and everything will be fine, or so she thinks. “Hold it Mando.” She stops and tenses up as she sees the man with a blaster pointed at them. With Din’s quick distraction she is able to get back and Din shoots off the man.

“You know I’ll have to fix that, right?” Hela asks as she goes back to the front with him still keeping the child close as if anything would happen to him if she set him down.

“That’s part of the being paid handsomely,” Din says before he unscrews the piece off his lever and holds it out for Hela to take.

Hela looks at the piece and smiles before she takes it from him, giving it to the child who coos happily. She finally unties the makeshift holder she’d had him in and puts him down in the third seat. She had no idea what this meant for them but she knew whatever happened next was going to be interesting. “Have I ever told you that you’re funny, Din?”

Din considers it for a moment before he shakes his head, “No I don’t think I have heard you call me funny in all the time that I’ve spent with you, El.” He knew that his jokes didn’t always come across with his serious tone so it was nice that she could appreciate him. As much back and forth as they had he was happy that she could appreciate him.

“That’s good.” Hela tells him before she winks at him, “I wouldn’t want your head to get too big for that helmet of yours.” She looks at the child smiling as she watches him for a moment; he still has the necklace with him. She had no idea how he’d kept it but she was happy because he deserved it. He was strong for such a little thing which was good she had a feeling that he was going to need all the strength he could get.

Din ignores the comment rolling his eyes before he faces ahead. He’s going to make his own smart remark as she leaves but she doesn’t leave right away. Looking back he sees Hela standing next to the child showing him how he can toss the metal ball. She has that smile on her face, one that he was still surprised by, “You smile more- now that we have the kid here.” Is that something he should be saying to her? He can’t help it even if he should keep that to himself it made him happy to see her this way, “I think this is the most I’ve seen since you came onto the ship.”

Hela looks from the child back to Din wondering how often he looked for her smile. She almost asks but it wouldn’t be worth it as she wouldn’t be able to see a blush creep over his cheeks at the thought. “Maybe he just makes better conversation than you do.” The child coos as if on cue which makes the woman laugh, “I’m going to go what you broke with your little show of yours don’t let him eat that.”

Din nods watching as she leaves before he looks back to the child who sure enough has put the piece of metal in his mouth. “Get that out of there.” He says before fishing it out of the child’s mouth putting it back in the child’s hands instead. 

The child coos at him playing for some time before he drops his newfound toy instead, getting out of his carrier. After getting out the child makes his way over to Din grabbing hold of his leg trying to pull himself up. Din looks down and sighs before he picks him up, “Are you not going to settle?” He asks as he puts the child down. He has a feeling that the child will just get back up and come try to see him again. “What will get you to settle?” He asks as if the child is going to give him any answer.

“I know I said she never smiles but I was only joking. I do that sometimes- or I try anyways.” Din says unsure why humor lost on the average person would be found in this child. “She has been here for three years at my side any time that I take this ship out. That is often as we always have a mission.” Until now of course, now he couldn’t take missions now because they were on the run. He would figure something out though they always did.

Looking back Din realizes that the child is still seated still not having tried to get up so the ramblings must be working. Looking ahead again he decides to keep talking, “I met her after a nasty fight, holes in my ship. I needed someone to fix it up and the repairs were beyond my abilities. I was looking for someone to help and she told me she could do the job it took half the time it would have taken anyone else. I thought we were all done after I paid her until I found her hiding out in the ship.” A look back tells him that the child is starting to grow tired as big eyes start to close though he keeps opening them struggling to stay awake. Keeping up the tangent for a bit longer would surely get the child to sleep.

“She admitted she had no home. She was just hopping from place to place. She figured I would wreck this ship enough to keep her in work and she was clearly right. That was three years ago and she is still here cleaning up my messes.” Din is absently tapping the surface in front of him as he thinks about it. “I’m happy though the company is nice even if she spends half her time insulting me. I think it’s her way of caring, funny enough it’s a strange way to care but it’s her own way.” With one last look back the child is fast asleep and Din carefully takes back the piece of his lever cleaning it off before he screws it back on.

He considers going on but he instead enjoys the silence thinking about what he said. He did care about Hela more than she knew and he wasn’t sure if he should say something to her. She comes back and he doesn’t look back at her just smiling. “I think the kid is sleeping. I told him about what all the buttons do and he was out before I got through half the buttons.”

“Well that’s smart I think that would’ve put me to sleep,” Hela tells him before she gets back in her seat. The job had been easy enough he hadn’t done as much damage as he usually did to the poor ship which was a happy surprise for her. “I also got a little space in the sleeping area done for him. I'm sure he’ll get tired of that thing or he could outgrow it. I don’t know how fast his kind grows up.”

Din nods though truthfully he can only think of finding the child nestled up to her as they both slept. He thinks as good as her intentions were for giving the child his own space that would be a regular occurrence. “I’m sure he will appreciate it whenever he gets out of there.”

Hela nods tracing her fingers over the metal of the child's carrier, “Things are going to change now but I think it will be for the better. Our lives will be better with this one in our lives.” She rests her head on the seat and just watches him. She had no idea what it was about this child but something about him tells her just how different things are.


	4. Chapter 4

As the child starts to press buttons on the ship Hela has to bite back a chuckle as Din presses his own trying to counteract what the child had done. “I mean as long as he isn’t doing anything destructive it’s keeping him from eating the metal pieces you let him play with.” It wasn’t his fault though it wasn’t like they had toys laying around and they didn’t know if the child would even be interested in those things. 

“Stop touching things,” Din says as he presses another button before he gives the child a look as if he’ll see it. Then again he was a smart little thing so he would probably figure it out. That was just his hope though as the child seemed to press another button out of rebellion. Din fixes it before he settles the child into his arm knowing he’ll be a safe distance from any buttons that can cause harm. Looking around he sighs, “Sorgan? There’s no starport, no industrial centers, and no population density. It’s a real backwater skug hole.”

Hela gets up and looks as well, hand resting on Din’s shoulder as she does, “I think that sounds like the perfect little skug hole to me.” She jokes before letting the child wrap his little hand around one of her fingers. “I think he agrees.”

Din nods, “We can lay low for a few months and you can get out of this ship for a change.” Getting out of the ship without the threat of being caught or having to hide he was sure that Hela would be grateful for that opportunity and so would the child. No one would find them it could be safe haven for at least the time being.

The ship comes down and Din gets ready because he’ll have to check this place out before he brings either of them out. As good as he thinks it will be for their odd little group he wants to be sure of it before subjecting them to this planet. Din hands Hela the child promising to be right back. “Don’t let him touch anything.”

“You’ve got it, captain,” Hela assures him though the child gets out of her arms almost immediately. Chasing after him she sees the look Din gives them both quickly picking him back up. “He’s a slippery little thing practically fell out of my arms. I can’t help it.”

Din lets out a sigh, “Alright what the hell let’s go.” He says before heading the two of them to find somewhere to take shelter. They come to a gathering place with people making food and chattering, trying to enjoy their time together.

Getting to the table Hela sets the child down before having a seat next to Din. She stays quiet as Din orders them all something. She was always this way suddenly unable to run her mouth when they found others. Instead, she focuses on the child watching him play with the necklace she’d given him.

“Stay here,” Din says before he leaves the area. 

Hela watches him go before letting out a frustrated sound. She wants to know what this was but, of course, he isn’t going to say anything. “Once you spend enough time with him and this is all you’ll know- leaving in a moment’s notice and not saying why. Even if he comes back every time it still worries me.” She tells the child looking out the door to where he had gone. 

The broth is brought out for the child and he picks it up before getting out of his chair to leave. “This again- you can’t keep running away like this.” She says before quickly following after him. Hela is about to pick him up when she hears the fight going on in the back. “Fine but you can’t lift anyone in the air again or people will start asking questions we don’t want to answer.” She tells him quietly before following him back to where she finds Din and a woman on the ground with guns pointed at each other.

Din gives Hela a, seriously you couldn’t keep the child there for just a minute look. Glancing back over to the woman with a gun pointed at him he figures the only thing he can do is be peaceful, “So… do you want soup?” 

Hela sighs picking up the child and bringing him back before she has a seat back at the table. The woman starts talking and Hela stays quiet pouring some of her broth into the child’s bowl as he’d already finished his. She lifts it up to her lips listening to the woman tell them one of them will have to move on. After the woman leaves she looks back to Din, “She can’t mean that. I mean this is the best place we can be at least for the time being.” Getting back in that ship to go search for some other empty planet who knew how long that would take.

“It looks like this planet is taken,” Din tells her with a dismissive shrug before making his way back to the ship with the two of them.

Hela is silent as they get back unsure of why they have to leave, why they have to start this all over again. She’s giving him the cold shoulder working on fixing the engine in silence. Din knows because she can feel his eyes on her once and a while looking over as if she’ll suddenly start her long ramblings about just how easy fixing this way.

“Excuse me- Excuse me, sir.”

Din looks over and it takes everything in him not to let out an exhausted sigh, “Is there something I can help you with?”

“Raiders. We have money.” They offer quickly following after Din as he goes to look busy at another part of the ship. Hela bites back though she is tempted to say that he isn’t working and that he’s just trying to look busy so they’ll leave him alone. It wouldn’t be fair though she would just be punishing him over her frustrations of having to leave. 

Din turns them down at every word, finally opening the door to the ship as one last way of telling them it isn’t going to happen. Taking it as a cue to leave she finishes her work before she shuts up and heads towards the door only for Din to stop. “Where do you live?”

Hela’s face lights up as she realizes what he’s asking if they were far enough away from this woman she wouldn’t know. He asks about lodging and it’s only further confirmation. She smiles going back to get a few things before she grabs the child and gets in with them. The stop she isn’t a fan of is the one to find the woman from before but she won’t say a thing.

They go through the night and she ends up sleeping through most of it until they stop abruptly. She smiles at all the children watching as the child interacts with them. “It seems like you will have an easy time making friends here, little one.”

“She speaks,” Cara says as she gets out there are no words exchanged between them as Hela gets out and helps take out some of their things to bring to the lodgings. “Yeah, I figured that’s all I was going to hear.”

Hela comes to bring in things smiling at the woman who let them in. “This is far better than sleeping on the chairs in the ship… trust me.” She takes one of the blankets the woman has offered and cozies it up so that the child can sit on it he’d woken up before the rest of them so she wasn’t sure if he’d want to rest soon or just explore.

Din turns around quickly as someone comes in the doorway only for their host to leave bringing back a child who clings tight to her. “This is my daughter Winta.” The woman tells them, stroking the girl's hair as she watches the pair wondering mostly what the Mandolorian will do.

“I apologize he doesn’t get out of his ship as often as he should. I’m Hela.” She greets the girl with a smile. She thinks that Din will give his own greetings but instead he is suddenly the one to quiet up watching as the woman and her child leave with not even a hello. “That was rude.” She tells him before watching him start to get things settled.

Din cleans off his weapon as the woman Omera comes back in with her daughter in tow. His back is turned to them which is rude but at least he wasn’t pointing his gun so it was a start. Hela watches as Winta feeds the child who seems all too pleased by the extra attention eager to play with his new friend.

“I’m sure he’d love to play with you and some of the other children, wouldn’t he?” Hela asks before looking back at Din.

Din sighs, “Sure.” He gets the child out of the crib and watches as the two of them start to leave the barn. “I don’t think-”

“I’ll keep a careful eye on them,” Hela assures him before she leaves the barn following after the kids. She keeps her distance letting them have their fun but making sure that the child stays out of trouble. The last thing they needed was to frighten these farmers with whatever it was the child could do something he luckily hadn’t shown since then.

She can’t help but listen to the conversation in the barn though. Turning her head and listening she hears Din talk about how he hadn’t taken his helmet off since he was a child, not in front of another. It was something she had always wondered about, what he looked like under there but it was his place, his religion so she wouldn’t dare ask that of him no matter how curious she was. Instead, she’d wondered the different sorts of faces he could have was his nose wide or slim? Did his hair underneath curl that helmet? What she does consider most is his eyes how they would crinkle when he squinted his eyes at maps or rolled when she asked silly questions.

When they leave Hela stays behind knowing it’s best to keep some eyes on the child. She also isn’t going to act like she’s as good a fighter as either of them; it was their job and their way of life. She fixed ships and kept things working. She wasn’t the sort of person who chased off monsters as they would.

“You didn’t eat earlier you should probably eat something now I promise he’ll be fine,” Omera says as she brings a bowl over motioning for Hela to have a seat. “They’re good children they know to be gentle with him since he’s so little.”

Hela smiles, going to have a seat before she takes the bowl, “I’ve never cared so much about someone, especially one so little. It means a lot because I have been around… Mando for a long time, a few years actually.” She admits as she gives one last look to the child before looking at Omera. “Knowing him also means I know how he works and he’ll get your job done. Your people will be just fine.”

Omera nods looking at the woman. It's curious she didn’t know everything she could know someone so long but not see their face it’s a curious idea. “I’m happy to hear it. They have done nothing but terrorize us for a long time. It will bring everyone some relief to see them gone.”

“So your feisty little friend- who is she? Surely you don’t just have her around to babysit that little one of yours.” Cara jokes though she’s met with silence before Din points forward.

“About 15 or 20 of them came through here on foot and something big sheared off those branches,” Din tells her before looking down to see what large prints were left. It wasn’t good at all they weren’t going to be able to fight this so instead they had to break the bad news to the people. Coming back he told them just that. “Bad news you can’t live here anymore.”

The people frantically chatter trying to figure out what to do. “I know this is not the news you wanted to hear but there are no other options.” Cara tries to explain as if anyone could make the mess that Din had just let out any better. The people are angry they try to fight them on this it’s their home and they won’t leave it. “Look you can’t fight that thing.”

“Unless we show them how,” Din suggests and all eyes are back on him. Training these people would be difficult but they each have their strengths and they are able to play to the different ones, some building traps, and others making barriers. Hela helps them with building strong barriers letting the other two handle the other sorts of training. 

“Exactly you have to keep them heavy right about here so they won’t be able to just knock them over. Here use this to make them a bit taller. I think that height should be right.” Hela says before lifting another piece up with some help. She looks back to where Din is teaching them to shoot their gracious host is quite the shot and the others aren’t that bad she thinks that they have a chance of making this work.

When the night comes closer Din finds Hela. “The sun is about to set so we’ll leave soon. When we return we’re coming in hot.” He warns her knowing that this is far from what she had signed up for when she’d met him.

Hela smiles, “I think we’ll have a shot at this these people are good. Just try not to get yourself killed before you get back okay?” She asks, reaching up to touch the side of his helmet. Before she can though Cara walks back up so she instead brushes fake dirt off the side of his armor. “We’ll see you soon, Din.” 

Hela watches the two of them leave before she goes to find Omera. “Are you ready for this? I know that they’ve trained you well but do you feel emotionally ready? It’s… war and it’s frightening no matter how much you train or how ready you feel.”

“I think we have trained enough to take care of our home. It will be worth it in the end.” Omera tells her with a nod very sure of herself and her people. “Do you know much about that- war I mean. Surely you’ve had something to fight for like we have with this home.”

Hela’s jaw tenses it’s clearly a question she doesn’t want to answer, “It’s not important what is important is that I do one more check on the barriers. Get everyone else ready, alright?” She asks before heading back to check on the barriers.

By the time the night comes they’ve come back Hela smiles, “Happy to see you made it out alive.”

“I always do,” Din assures her quietly before he lifts his own weapon up as well. It doesn’t go according to plan the pit they’d dug was for nothing “We have to get that thing to step forward.”

Hela is amazed watching how Cara goes shoot at the machine without a single care. She grins reaching up to shoot her gun at a few of them. Her aim is getting better though not as good as those around them who take down the machine as well as the others. Those left run away and the group is safe, something they had hoped for but never would have expected.

Everyone cheers and the night is spent cleaning up the mess though the next day everyone seems so happy. Hela is sitting watching how the children play wondering if this is the life the child should have, a simple life. Then again how could he with a bounty on his head and so many people out looking for them? Even if was a small place the fear of someone finding him of this little piece of happiness being ruined for these people felt too heavy a burden.

“He’s very happy here,” Omera says as if she’s read the woman’s thoughts. 

“He is.” Din agrees, feeling a pat on his arm from Hela sitting next to him. They were all happier here, maybe he could leave them there, check-in when possible but stay away to keep the trail off them. It is something he can’t think about right now at that moment he wants to be happy, to enjoy their small victory.

“So what happens if you take that thing off? They come after you and kill you?” Cara asks before she lifts her cup up to her lips to have a long drink. She doesn’t know what it is about these people; none of them could hold a conversation but it didn’t make her any less curious. Besides, she figured the more she spoke the more likely it was that something was to stick.

“No, you just can’t ever put it on again,” Din tells her before looking away back to the child who is playing with the other children.

“That’s it?” Cara asks amazed that the man would even keep the helmet out, “You could just slip that off go raise your kid here with your special friend-” She starts to say though she feels Hela’s glare, “Or that pretty widow but you won’t?”

“All the things that have happened here, it'll draw too much attention, it'll be better to move on.” Din explains feeling the familiar touch of Hela’s hand leave his arm at his words. “Well just for me- I’ll leave him here and my… special friend.” He says though he winces at the term before he looks over to Hela who shoots up at the suggestion. “It’s quiet here, this is a good life for him and I trust that you would keep him safe.”

Hela looks ready to fight off tears but also like she’s ready to mixture of emotions that Din had expected but not this intensely. “You know what, Din? I’m insulted that you think either of us is that easy to dispose of. What do you think it would do to him to be abandoned? What about-” She shakes her head handing her cup to Cara so she can finish it instead, heading inside with a frustrated huff.

Cara watches the woman leave before pouring the contents of their cups together. “That was the stupidest thing you could’ve done.” She has a long drink before she smirks, “It was fun to watch though. Dinner and a meal can't get much better than this.”

Inside the barn, Hela paces back and forth trying to figure out what to say or do. She’s so frustrated but tears start to fall which only seems to make her more frustrated. He’d just throw them out like this? After all the time she had spent at his side he woudl just leave them there then using the line about trusting her to keep the child safe it only felt more insulting. He wanted to brush it all off and go elsewhere. It was as simple as that or so she thought.

Hearing a shot ring out those angry thoughts leave her. She leaves the barn heading out to look for the others she finds Omera with the children. “What happened is everyone okay?” She asks going to pick up the child looking to see if he’s hurt.

“I’m not sure- everyone seems fine but your friend- he said to go get the kids he’s going to take care of it,” Omera explains as she starts to help the gets get up ushering them to one of the buildings they can hide them in.

Hela nods quickly wiping away her tears before she motions for the other children to follow, “Come on lets all go it’s going to be just fine I promise.” Before they can get the kids all hidden though Din comes back giving her a nod that everything is fine. Letting out a sigh of relief Hela makes her way back over with the child in her arms. “What happened who was trying to come after these people?”

“Not after these people… after him,” Din says before he nods to the child in her arms. His plan of leaving them both there for easier lives was not something that could happen. People would come after the child over and over again so it wouldn’t be safe for him or this place.

Hela looks at him before she nods, “I’ll go pack all of our things.” She sets down the child to let him go back to his friends. He didn’t know it yet but it was the last time he would most likely see them which hurt. He was so happy here and as they packed their things and put them into the tow that had brought them there it was obvious he was upset.

Hela reaches a hand up to stroke his cheek, “I’m sorry little one you’ll have us though.” She tells him quietly before going to get more of the things to hand to the men who packed it up.

“I’m gonna miss you.” The children tell him, giving him hugs and saying their goodbyes as they get ready to leave. Hela even waves to Cara though she won’t speak to her, not even as they leave. Once everything is ready they’re off watching as this life they should have had grows more and more distant.

Once they can no longer see the villagers Din looks over at Hela. “What I said about leaving you here… I only meant it as a way to keep you both safe. I thought it would be better not just for the child but for you as well. I never wanted you to think it was to abandon you.” He hadn’t quite place his finger on what it was but he now realized it as they left what could’ve been the perfect home. 

Hela looks over at him; she wants to shout every profanity she can think and tell him exactly how she feels about him making decisions on her behalf. Instead she leans over and kisses the side of his helmet, “I know you mean well but if you ever think you can get rid of me that easy again you have another thing coming I’m here for good.”

Din smiles putting a hand on her cheek as she kisses his helmet. “I wouldn’t have it any other way, El.”


	5. Chapter 5

“You know if you let me pilot this thing I could get us out of here a lot faster,” Hela says as she tightly grips the armrests of her seat. They had been chased for miles, someone had tracked the child and now had a good chase on them. Her eyes close as another blast hits the ship it would just take one good one for all three of them to end up blown up.

“Yeah, but would we make it out of it with all of our limbs, El?” Din asks before looking over to the child, “Hold on.” He warns before he turns the ship trying to dive and spin any way he can to get the man off their trail.

“Are we going to make it out of this one alive?” Hela asks before they abruptly stop causing them all to lurch forward before he spins them around able to get behind the man. Once there Din shoots him and just like that their problem is gone. “It’s brilliant really but I think I'll be sick.”

“We’re losing fuel,” Din says before everything turns off. Looking around he takes in a breath before he goes to turn on the backup power. Once it’s on he starts flipping switches, “Do you think that you’ll be able to do repairs, or are you just not feeling well enough?”

Hela shakes her head, “I’ll stay here with the child you help them get this fixed just find me if you need help talking down whatever price they want to put on this thing.” She goes to lay in one of the beds feeling her head start to ring. Luckily the child was fast asleep so she was able to get some rest herself. Laying back down in the bed she closes her eyes and falls asleep faster than she usually does.

There’s a loud shriek causing her to get up from her bed. Looking around in the darkness she sees there is no one there with her. “Mama?” It was her it had to be her she could remember that scream anywhere. She looks around the room seeing other beds above her own and shakes her head. “No- no this is just a dream it’s just a dream.” She kneels on the ground closing her eyes. She desperately covers her ears trying to tune out the screams, “It’s not real Hela- It’s not real you can’t do anything just wake up.”

A hand on her shoulder makes her open her eyes, dropping her hands. She looks back only to see blood pour from a boy's mouth. “No- no no please Kaol please.” She begs, catching him as he falls down. He’s choking on his own blood and tries to turn him to his side as if doing that had ever worked any of the other times. “Just stay awake Kaol please stay awake for me.” She begs though he turns to dust leaving her with only the knowledge she’d failed him again. 

She closes her eyes and when she opens them again she gasps for air. “Din- Din!” She lifts her arms to look at finding no dust or blood; it was all a dream as she realizes that the sleepy fog lifts. She’d felt ill; it was probably why she had a nightmare. Din was out talking to the person fixing the ship and everything was fine. She takes in a deep breath before going to look around only to see the ship wide open. She gets out and is surprised to find the child nestled in a woman’s arm. “Who are you?” She asks before looking at the child.

“The woman who’s gonna fix this ship- who’re you?” The woman asks wondering just how many people this Mandolorian kept in that ship of his. First, the child had come out and now this woman had come out of the ship it had to be a party in that ship.

“I’ll be the one fixing this ship once your friend comes back with money for now I’m watching this one.” The woman explains as she motions to the child. “Watching him is gonna cost extra. Your friend hasn’t come back yet for me to tell him but it will.”

Hela mumbles under her breath rubbing the bridge of her nose, “Well put me to work then I’ll get to one of your other jobs to pay off the babysitting debt and he will help me.” She says before walking over to take the child. She smiles as he coos at her, “Yeah you will be a fine helper won’t you, little one?”

With a reluctant look, the woman nods, “I’ve got some parts that need cleaned up and patched I’ll have one of the droids bring them over you get that done while I figure out something else for you to do.”

Hela nods walking over to the workbench in the adjusting things nearby for a makeshift seat, “Now you- you are going to stay here for a change.” She gives the child a gentle pat on the cheek before she takes the work the droid has brought her starting to get to it. Starting to clean up pieces she glances at the necklace she’d put around the child’s neck. “You know that was my family like I’ve told you. I dreamt of them well my brother Kaol see I had two siblings they were twins Kaol and Luma.”

She isn’t sure why but getting to speak about this, about her family felt nice. She had never told Din about her family but she felt comfortable speaking about those things with the child. “I loved them very much but things changed when Kaol and Luma were gone. As soon as I could get out I did trust me living under the weight of all that pain isn’t healthy. I never had a home after I left them well… until I met Din. Staying here with you two is about the closest thing to a home I think I’ll ever have but I like it.”

Hela wants to tell him stories about her siblings, the ones she can remember anyway. Instead, though they’re interrupted by Din coming back. He doesn’t go right for them he goes into the ship looking for where he had last left the child. Hela looks back at him, “We’re here.” She calls out before cleaning off her hands.

Din makes his way over to Hela letting out a sigh of relief as he sees both her and the child accounted for. He rests a hand on her shoulder looking at the parts that she has splayed out on the workbench, “I see you’ve already been put to work.”

“Well, we have to pay off this bill somehow, right? Unless you picked up a job, then the two of us could just kick up our feet and relax.” Hela jokes patting Din’s hand before she picks up a piece and gets back to work.

Din chuckles, “I should have a job I’m not sure how long it will take but I’ll get the money.” It is… a complicated job to say the least but he’ll take the job if it means they can get their ship repaired and leave. “Don’t kick up your feet just yet though in case things go south.”

“If you die on us I’ll be fixing parts until he’s fully grown to pay for the wreck you’ve caused,” Hela tells him with a smile before she looks up at him. “He’s safe here with me, just get this done so we can get back on the road. You stay safe.”

“I’ll be fine,” Din assures her, giving her shoulder a squeeze before he nods the child. He gives them both one more look before going to talk about the costs with the woman repairing the ship. He’ll get the money on this bounty and they will go back to what had become their new normal.

Repairs ran late into the day with no sign of Din coming back. Hela took the child with her sitting down to eat with the woman. She makes polite chit chat but really all she wants is for Din to be back with them. Talking about how repairs were going or how the food tasted wasn’t going to distract her from wondering what the hell was happening out there. 

After dinner, Hela wants to get a few of the extra parts the droid had brought her done. Still, as she works on them she sees the child fighting sleep trying to stay awake to be there with her. Looking out to the darkness outside for a moment she looks back to the child and smiles, “Why don’t we go lie down- oh I know, little one. I know but we’ll just lie down while I tell you more stories.”

Taking him she goes into the ship heading to the sleeping quarters they had. The last thing she wants to do is lay down after her nightmares earlier in the day but she could at least try for the child’s sake. Getting into the bed she lets him settle in close to her before she takes in a breath, “How about I tell you about the time my big sister nearly burnt down the village trying to make a late meal for my friends and I. That has always gotten a giggle out of everyone I told.”

She tells stories until the child falls asleep trying to stay awake for as long as she can. After some time she finally lets herself sleep she finds some peace until she’s woken up by a hand nudging her arm. “Din I swear to-'' She starts to say though she freezes as she sees a man pointing a blaster at her face. “I- please you can take whatever you want just don’t shoot. We don’t have much but I’ll tell you where anything valuable is when you lower your blaster.”

Toro scoffs before he jabs the blaster into her arm, “I don’t have time to listen to you to play stupid you know what I’m here for. If you make any sudden movements I’ll blow your head off you understand?” He doesn’t wait for confirmation instead taking the child that’s asleep beside her. The child wakes and starts to fuss but Hela remains still as she’s told, “Good now get up- come on get up.”

Hela slowly gets up letting him see her hands as she does, “Look I know you think this is an easy target but we aren’t alone here. We’ve got someone with us and when he comes back-”

“You mean the Mandalorian? Yeah, he’ll be back but I’ve got a feeling when I’ve got the kid in one arm and a blaster to your head he won’t be able to do all that much.” Toro tells her before he takes them to the front of the ship. Standing there he has the child in one hand and keeps the blaster firmly pointed to the back of Hela’s head while they wait. “I hope there are no hard feelings here. I mean killing a pretty woman- it really isn’t my style but you’ve got to do what you can to survive in this world right? It’s nothing personal I’d let you live in fact you can if Mando decides to behave but if he doesn’t… I just might pull the trigger.”

Hela closes her eyes, feeling tears start to fall as she stands there all too aware of the blaster to her head. “That isn’t going to happen because he’s going to save us. You’ll end up dead buried in some sandy grave forgotten and we’ll leave safe. It doesn’t have to be that way though you can just leave and we’ll forget this ever happened alright?”

“So I’m supposed to just leave and lose this amazing opportunity? I’ll be a legend in the guild when I turn in their bounty and the Mandalorian that stole it. Everyone will know my name, all of this will be for something.” Torro tells her before running the blaster through her dark curls. “If it makes you feel any better though I’ll always remember you.”

“I’ll forget you existed the second you drop the ground. You’ll die an unremarkable failure.” Hela assures him though she isn’t sure how it had come out. Tears were rolling down her cheeks and her heart was pounding in her ears. She wondered if she would be the dead body being held in someone's arms this time. 

Hearing the doors Torro smiles moving forward, “There he is! Took you long enough, Mando.”

Din walks up slowly keeping his blaster pointed as he watches the man walk up with the child in one hand and a blaster pointed to Hela’s head. As Toro tells him that he’s calling the shots Din runs a hundred scenarios through his mind, most of them bad. He notices everything where they’re standing and how they’re all reacting. Hela has tears rolling down her cheeks and Toro seems so arrogant, something he should’ve figured out from the start. 

He’s instructed to drop his blaster and raise his hands so Din starts to lower his blaster slowly before dropping it to the ground. The child coos as Din raises his hands in surrender. Toro instructs Hela to cuff him and she nods in agreement. Making her way over she stands behind him seeing something in his hand she stays quiet working on getting him in the cuffs. Hela smiles for a moment though she brings her face right back to her sad expression not wanting Toro to suspect anything.

Din sets off a flashbang and is able to get out of Toro’s line of vision long enough to get the upper hand. Shooting Toro down he falls and Hela makes her way over only for Din to hold out his arm and stop her. “We have to be careful.” He warns, the man could still be alive.

“I don’t care- where is he? Where’s the little one?” Hela asks before she looks at Toro who didn’t have the child in his arms. Feeling frantic for a moment she can suddenly hear the bangs and see the smoke thinking of Kaol in her arms. “Where is he?!” She asks again but this time more frantic as she searches around every barrel and piece of equipment for the child.

Some gurgling sounds are heard as the child makes his way out from behind out of the pieces of equipment. Looking over Hela nearly sobs as she sees the child walk out from his hiding spot. “You gave me quite the scare there little one. Where were you hiding?” She asks, quickly wiping away her tears she kneels down and goes to pick him up holding him close. “You were so brave- yes you were my little one.”

Din walks over to them looking at Hela for a moment he wonders what was wrong. He knows as traumatic as that was it had to be something else, Hela wouldn’t act like this for any reason. He cups her face with a gloved hand wiping away the tears that she had missed. “The woman repairing the ship…” He starts to ask, wondering what had happened with her.

“Left for the night. I told her that we were going to sleep and she should do the same.” Hela explains before she takes in a deep breath. She sees the pouch that Din has in his hand giving him the child before she takes it. “I’ll go leave this where she’ll find it.” She tells him before she heads to go find the woman’s droids.

“El.” Din calls out watching as she stops in her place turning to look back at him. He can see more tears have fallen and it hurts but he doesn’t know how to ask her what’s wrong. “You know that you can talk to me about anything… I’m here for you.”

Hela smiles as she looks back at him, “I know Din.”


	6. Chapter 6

“You know I don’t think I’ve seen you sleep in days,” Din admits as they pull up to their location. Thinking about it he realizes how little he’s seen it. He thinks he’s seen her nod off once but she quickly woke after that going to find more busywork. She called it necessary upgrades he thought it was a distraction from whatever was on her mind.

“Din, I told you I really don’t want to talk about any of this. You mean well you really do but I just can’t do it right now.” Hela admits before running her hands through her hair. She should have been fine by now but after having a gun to her head she felt anything but fine. Now those same nightmares were instead of her dying in Din’s arms or even worse the child dying in hers. She saw it every time she closed her eyes so she had decided instead to just not sleep regardless of how many times Din suggested it. Now they had gotten to the point where he was begging but she couldn’t do it.

Din lets out an exhausted sigh knowing it was just another failed attempt. He has hope though that he’ll figure something out, maybe get her to talk or to help her really rest. For now, though, he’ll let her come with him once he parks the ship knowing it’ll be a distraction enough for her. When he parks he holds out her cloak, hoping that she’ll take the hint that she’s welcome on this trip. 

Hela looks over as he holds up her cloak and smiles. She takes it before going to tuck the sleeping child away in a hidden corner of the ship. “Do you think this is a good idea?” She asks quietly as she leaves the ship alongside Din. She doesn’t know this place but as a man walks up to greet Din she realizes he has to know these people. The man looks to Hela and she smiles, “Hela it’s a pleasure to meet you.”

Walking alongside them Hela hears the deal that is being made, a job and using the ship. She thinks of the child asleep in that ship and realizes it’s just another way to put him at risk. Still, they can’t help it. Mando needs a job they need to be able to fill the ship and really just survive with this new life on the run.

“I do only need… one more warm body for this job.” The man says skeptically before looking over at Hela. He isn’t sure who she was or why she’d been brought along but he wasn’t looking to overdo it. The more people they had the more likely they were to get caught because of someone’s nonsense.

Hela shakes her head, “I won’t be on the ground with you I’ll just keep the ship running so you’ve got a getaway for whatever you’re doing.” She assures him knowing the last thing she wants is to get involved with this. She wanted to fine-tune a piece of the engine anyways so she could take the time waiting for them to do just that it was a win for everyone.

They’re brought up to one of the men, Mayfield. They’re introduced to him only hearing bits and pieces of the plan mostly it’s talk about the old times. Hela frowns as she listens to them talk about it she had heard a lot about Mando’s past but this… this was something had never spoken about. Ignoring it she instead follows them back to the ship watching as the man introduces the rest of the team for this job. Someone named Burg, not much of a talker until he walks around Mando sizing him up. The droid is named Zero and Hela can tell that but Din doesn’t make his thing about disliking droids known in that minute.

“I thought you said you had four,” Din asks before they hear a voice behind them insist on being the fourth person. He turns around and so does Hela both looking at the woman who makes her way up.

“Hello Mando,” The woman greets as she makes her way over with a displeased look on her face. This is someone with a history that Hela has a feeling she needs to learn and fast because it isn’t going to be pleasant. 

“Tell me why I shouldn’t cut you down where you stand?” Xi’an asks before she holds a knife up to his throat her own strange way of greeting him. He seems fine with it which makes the woman let out a laugh, “I missed you. This is shiny… you wear it well.”

“Do we need to leave the room or something?” Mayfield asks clearly as pleased with all of this as Hela is though she does a better job hiding it. 

“Poor Xi’an has been a little heartbroken since Mando left our group.” 

“Aww, are you gonna be okay, sweetheart?” Mayfield asks, tone dripping with a vile mixture of sarcasm and misogyny that has Hela considering putting the knife to his throat. Instead, she’s quiet arms crossed over her chest watching as the woman insists she’s all fine, it’s just business after all.

“All right, lovebirds break it up until you get on the ship. Right now we don’t have much time.” He says before leading the group towards the ship.

Hela looks over at Mando who seems eager to see what she has to say about all of this mess. “They seem… charming.” She tells him, deciding to leave it at just that, the rest could wait until they had the ship back to themselves. She makes her way back towards the ship only for the droid to come back out.

“Despite recent modifications the ship is a mess. The power lines are leaking, the navigation is intermittent, and the hyperdrive is only operating at 67.3 percent efficiency.” Zero tells them. “We have much better ships. Why are we using this one?”

Hela scoffs as he insults the work she’s done. “Trust me if you’d seen this thing before he let me onto the ship you would be grateful to have what it is now.” She tells them all before making her way back onto the ship. She’ll get back to her repairs, back to the distraction she so needed.

“Just like the good ole days, Mando.” Hela hears and she has to wonder what exactly those good ole days are. It isn’t her business so she will work and listen as they make conversation. The woman Xi’an makes reference to a job and Hela’s curiosity is piqued. She works a bit quieter trying to lean back in and listen to them.

“I did what I had to do,” Din explains only for Xi’an to quickly counter that. Xi’an lets out a laugh, “Oh but you liked it. See I know who you really are.”

Mayfield asks what he looks like under the helmet that he refuses to take off and Hela rolls her eyes. She was curious sometimes too but the amount of time Din spent getting these questions, she’s surprised it didn’t frustrate him. Then again it could without her realizing it without a good look at him she can’t see exactly how he’s feeling. She wonders if she should go look but decides against it trying to force herself to look busy.

They keep insisting and something about it doesn’t feel right. Hela stops working completely as Mayfield says they have to trust each other. She wouldn’t trust him with anything. Where did he get off trying to force this? She starts to get up from the hole in the wall she’s working in ready to give him a piece of her mind. Fighting starts and she picks up the pace dropping her tools and coming out. 

Mando is fighting off Berg who is trying to take off the helmet when one of them hits a panel and the child’s hiding place is revealed. Freezing in her spot Hela watches the child happily chirp at them all thinking this is all fine.

“Whoa, what is that? You get lonely up here, buddy?” Mayfield asks as he makes his way over to observe the child. He wonders why Din would keep a kid in the ship and especially hidden away like this somewhere he, no doubt, hoped they wouldn’t find it. “Wait a minute did you two make that?” He asks making his way over to Xi’an.

“He’s mine,” Hela says before she walks over to step in front of Mayfield wanting to put as much space between this stranger and the child as she can. “So how about you leave him alone or I swear I’ll-”

Din grabs hold of Hela’s arm pulling her back so she doesn’t do something they both regret. He knows that most of how she feels lately had to do with the child so this has to have her blood boiling. He tries to calm her with a touch but she has every right to feel angry when Mayfield picks up the child pretending to drop him.

Hela walks over and ready to take back the child only for Mayfield to drop him as they come out of hyperspace. “That’s just lovely. I know your mother probably dropped you on your head but-” She starts though she bites her tongue instead, going to pick up the child. She checks him for injury before smiling at him happy to see he hasn’t even let out a cry. She ignores them taking the child with her to keep him far away from Mayfield's incapable hands.

“You are a tough little thing,” Hela assures with a smile before she hands him one of the tools so he can play with it. Getting back to work she tries to keep an eye on him as she does, knowing the last thing they need is to have the child run off in the middle of their mission. “Ignore them, they' are Din’s… old colleagues. Well, at least the twi’lek and the man from before. I think he wants to work with the rest of them about as much as we want to be around them. We’ll get through this and it will be back to the three of us like it should be.”

The child laughs before banging the tool against one of the walls of the ship. “That’s good work I’ll make a mechanic out of you yet, little one.” She teases before she hears something up at the pilot's side. Something isn’t right and Hela knows it this isn’t her just feeling paranoid something isn’t right. She sets down her tools and quietly walks over bringing the child with her; she stands at the bottom of the ladder listening to Zero.

The child doesn’t stop to listen though he instead goes up the ladder and Hela decides to follow his lead knowing that he knows about this better than she does. When they get there Zero watches the child for a moment before he picks up his gun. Seeing this she stands in the droids line of vision as the child scurries away, “I see you’re having comm problems- would you like some help?” She asks playing dumb to the fact that the child is who he wants.

The droid doesn’t answer though he goes past her and heads down looking for the child. “Shit,” Hela mumbles before she looks around for a weapon, something to use to defend herself against the droid. She could get into Din’s own weapons but the droid would see that so it would be far from ideal. Still, she can’t let him get the child so she has to make do grabbing something she makes her way down the ladder after him.

Hiding in one of the corners she bangs on some of the wall fixtures causing the droid to turn around and look which gives the child time to find his new hiding spot. She wonders where the hell Din is and hopes that he’ll be back soon. She makes her way to the blasters taking in a breath she gets ready before hiding in a new corner of the ship. She bangs the wall to get his attention but he isn’t so easily fooled this time. Instead, he opens the door to the newest hiding place the child is in. 

Hela knows she has no other choice, she has to protect the child so she pulls the trigger watching as the droid falls to the ground. She sees Mando entering looking from the droid now on the ground to Hela. She takes in a breath before handing over the blaster to Din, “It took you long enough.” She jokes before she steps over the droid to go check on the child.

“What happened here?” Din asks as he walks over, kicking the droid aside he puts a hand on Hela’s arm. He wants to figure it all out but she quickly dismisses him instead. heading to her regular seat up front in silence. He will have to figure it out later because they need out now. He gets back to pilot the ship driving them right back where they’d started.

The ship parks and Din brings back the prisoner. “Where are the others?” The man asks only for DIn to remind him of the no questions policy. Din has his money and it’s all that matters he needs to head out and get them all as far away from this place as they can. Getting back to the pilot’s seat he sees that Hela has fallen asleep having finally given up on trying to force herself to stay awake. Still, he doesn’t think it’s all her own choosing as the child has a careful hand on her cheek focusing his energy on her as he does.

Getting the ship ready, Din flies them out ready to forget this had ever happened. Din watches with a smirk as ships fly up to their port as he leaves. He knew not to trust them, why did they think he could be so foolish. Getting them into hyperspace he finally looks back and gives the child back the silver ball from the top of the lever. “I knew that one was a bad idea.” He tells the child with an exhausted shake of the head.

The child takes his hand off of Hela’s cheek to play with the toy he’d gotten back. As the child’s focus goes to the ball in his hand Hela starts to stir in her sleep which neither of them notices. It does start to get Din’s attention when he hears her mumbling in her sleep. “No- don’t.” She mumbles causing both of them to look back at them.

“Din- Din…” She mumbles shifting her position starting to clearly get more distressed by the moment. Din reaches a hand back wanting to rest a hand on Hela’s knee though he’s stopped before he can. Looking back he watches the child drop the ball into Din’s hand before the child reaches up to touch Hela’s cheek.

Din watches them both amazed by how Hela seems to quiet down and relax. He has no idea how the child did it but he shouldn’t be surprised. “I’ll give you this back after she gets some sleep yeah?” He asks before he turns to screw back on the top of the lever back on before he looks ahead wondering what Hela was dreaming about or better yet having nightmares about.

Hela suddenly feels a surge of energy and gets up from Din’s arms. Looking down at her stomach she pats it watching as the blood disappears and she heals. Looking around the smoke is gone and the skies have started to clear up so she can see where they were, that little village they had thought would be their home. She looks over and sees the child looking at her cooing happily before he makes his way over to her.

“Are you fixing this dream little one?” Hela asks, now aware that this wasn’t real it was a dream. She picks up the child holding him close before she presses a kiss to the top of his head. “How about you enjoy this dream as well I hear your friends playing go see what they’re up to.” She tells him before she sets him back down to walk over to the huts where the other children have started to play.

Din walks over to stand next to Hela placing a hand on the small of her back as they watch Do you think that we’ll ever really get this? This peace?” He asks, smiling as he watches the children take to the child bringing him right into their game.

Hela leans into Din’s touch, smiling as he moves his arm to instead wrap around her and hold her close. “I know we will… one day.” She assures him before she closes her eyes. It’s calm here and a far better dream than anything she’d had lately.


	7. Chapter 7

“My friend if you are receiving this transmission it means you are alive. You might be surprised to hear this, but I am alive too. I guess we can call it even. A lot has happened since we last saw each other. The man who hired you is still here, and his ranks of ex-imperial guards have grown.” Hela shouldn’t be spying but hearing that voice it’s familiar in a way she can’t place. Putting down her tools she makes her way over to the ladder trying to listen in. 

She can’t hear much more though it’s going in and out so she has to make her way up the ladder slowly trying to not catch Din’s attention. “If you would consider one last commission, I will very much make it worth your while.” A commission from where? She was trying to figure it out when she heard the suggestion of bringing the child as bait. That isn’t going to happen he won’t let it happen, what if whoever this was betrayed him? Clearly, in the last mission, they had they’d seen how little loyalties meant to the bounty hunter.

Coming into the room she gets just a quick look at the hologram before it shuts off. “No. No, we are not doing this Din.” She tells him as she makes her way over to him. “Have we not already learned from our mistakes trusting people who only care about their bottom line? You can’t put him at risk again not like this.”

Din should have known that Hela would listen in to the conversation. It was very much like her to do that sort of thing trying to keep all of them safer. Still, this was a way he could get the three of them some freedom, feel safe for a change. “Do you really want this life for the child? On the run from not only the people that want him but with the entire guild looking for him- for us. This is how we can start fresh and get away from all of this, El.”

“What if it goes wrong? You nearly died how many times on your last mission? Do you really want to put him-” Hela says before looking over at the child who is sound asleep. She wants to argue about it more but then he starts turning on the ship getting coordinates ready. She shakes her head and goes to sit down. “This is a bad idea and you know it.”

“Don’t worry about it El I’ve got a plan you know I always do,” Din assures her before glancing back at Hela. She has an angry look on her face and he doesn’t think that he’ll convince her otherwise. Rather than continue the fight he flies them away to a familiar planet. 

Getting off the plane they come to the familiar hub where Cara is easy to find. “Now I would like to do that,” Hela admits in awe as she watches the woman fight a man with ease getting him to tap out as she strangles him. She can appreciate how Cara is able to take care of herself and truthfully she wishes she could do the same thing. She wanted to be able to look after her loved ones. The last thing she wants is to end up vulnerable again.

Din looks over a bit surprised figuring that Hela had hated the woman. Rather than acknowledge it he looks over at Cara, “Are you looking for some work?” He asks watching as she makes her way over to the table. 

The four of them sit at a table and negotiations start between Din and Cara trying to figure out a way this will be good for both of them. All the while Hela has a drink listening in trying to figure out just how they could get this woman to come with them. She had valid points not wanting to get caught and thrown in a cell but she was exactly what they needed to make this mission work.

All it takes though is Din saying the enemy imperial and they’re on their way to the ship. Hela settles into a seat with the child leaving hers open for Cara, “Thank you for this.” She tells the woman something she’s sure that Cara will have to comment on as they hadn’t exchanged words since they had first met.

“No problem.” Cara simply says not wanting to bring attention to the fact that she was finally getting a few words from Hela. As tempting as it was she has a feeling those would be Hela’s first and last words if she pointed it out. They make their way out of the front of the ship leaving the child and Hela there alone while they look at weapons.

Hela looks off to where they were headed she shouldn’t listen in she had clearly gotten herself into enough fights doing just that. Still, she was nosy and had to learn what was happening. Getting up from the seat she goes to listen, leaving the child in her place. They’re talking about how much Din trusts the contact when suddenly the shift moves and her head is slammed into the wall hard before she’s knocked back on her back.

Din and Cara have to get their bearings back before they quickly make their way up to the front. Din goes to grab the child handing him off to Cara before fixing all of the controls that the child has gotten his hands on. How could the child have done this so fast he’d left him there with Hela- where was she? “El?” He asks as he pushes the last few buttons.

“Down here,” Hela mumbles as she starts to lift herself from the ground, holding her head as she does. Her head is throbbing and she has a feeling that this was just another hint that she should stop trying to eavesdrop. She couldn’t help it and if they were going to go off and have secret conversations it would probably happen again. Though maybe doing this now when her head felt this horrible wasn't the best idea.

Cara looks over and after setting down the child she makes her way over to the woman. “Woah there slow down there you are bleeding really bad.” She warns before getting Hela into the empty seat. She wipes away some of the blood from Hela’s face. “So much for you being the babysitter- now you’re going to need one. Do you have anyone you trust?” She asks before looking back at Din.

“No- no I’ll be fine watching him everything will be just fine here. You two just worry about getting your job done.” Hela assures her before she looks down at the blood on her palm from where she had been holding her wound. Her stomach turns and it takes everything in her not to grow sick.

They have to take a detour but if it means that the child and Hela both are safe then it will have to do. Getting to their familiar face Din helps Hela out, “You can hate me all you want for this but I’m going to keep you safe.” He tells her, making sure to go behind slowly so the others can’t hear the two of them talking. It isn’t that he’s ashamed to talk to her, it's more that he wants her to know the conversation is just for her.

Hela smiles resting her head against his arm, “I don’t hate you Din I know you’re just trying to do what you think is best. I would love to tell you that I can handle myself in this but I know I can’t handle myself not like...” She won’t finish the sentence, she can’t make herself do that. She wants to be brave and strong always but clearly each passing day with this new life of theirs she sees how weak she really is. “I just want you to get this done so that we don’t have to keep being separated like this. I miss you when you’re away.”

“Yeah and I miss you too.” Din agrees with a smile before moving bloodied hair from her face. They get her inside and sit her down where he starts to carefully clean the wounds he knows she’ll be fine but he wants to ensure they have nothing to worry about. That and when she does start to feel better she will be an extra set of eyes on the child, something they clearly need after today's stunt.

Cara watches them before having a seat next to Hela as Din goes to talk to Kuiil about the child. Looking over at Hela she smiles, “So are you always this graceful, or is this just a new thing you’re trying out?” She tries to joke hoping that she can get a laugh out of Hela.

Hela looks over at Cara knowing that the woman is just trying to joke but right now it doesn’t feel all that funny to her. “It’s a talent really- finding new ways to be helpless every day yet here I am doing exactly that.” She says it mostly to herself though she knows that Cara will hear it. Maybe it’s the head injury or just the feeling of worthlessness but she feels like she needs to get this out now while Din isn’t paying enough attention to disagree with her.

Cara looks over at Hela ready to argue that Hela wasn’t useless when she is brought into Din’s conversation. She reluctantly goes into it not wanting any eyes on the other woman right now. Clearly, she felt vulnerable and didn’t want anyone else to realize it so Cara is happy to be a distraction for Hela. She asks questions until the droid enters the room and she quickly stands up and pulls out her gun.

Recognizing who it was, Hela reaches a hand out to place hold onto the child’s carrier ready to pull him close to her. Kuiil assured them that the droid meant them no harm. It was reprogrammed after all and he’d done good work but she was still hesitant. Taking a cup of tea from the droid she has a sip though she keeps her hand wrapped around the child’s carrier, her eyes never leaving the droid.

Din leaves with Kuiil and Cara is happy to find them mostly alone so she can comment on Hela’s earlier words. “You know you’re not useless right? You are no doubt the only thing keeping that rust bucket from falling out of the sky. I’m sure Din wouldn’t have made it this far without your help… neither of them would have.” Cara says before looking at the child.

Hela scoffs as Cara tries to tell her that she matters. “That’s how I’ve gotten by fixing up crummy old rust buckets to get from place to place. Surviving though… I don’t know how I’ve survived. I mean I can’t fight, I don’t know how to take care of others. I’m always the one they have to look after.” She looks over at Cara so strong and so capable she felt so opposite of that. “I have watched everyone I love die and I almost met that same fate because I couldn’t take care of myself or him.” She says before looking at the child. “A blaster to my head and all I could do was cry and hope someone else came to save us.”

Cara isn’t sure what to say. That feeling of helplessness was something she was familiar with but she didn’t know how to put it into words. She sets down her tea putting a hand on Hela’s arm giving it a sympathetic pat. “You should talk to your friend about this and tell him how you feel. I'm sure he’d train you if you asked. I mean you are his special friend I think he would do just about anything for you.” She jokes, joking now was bad with such heavy subject matter but it was all she could do.

Hela lets out a laugh reaching to wipe away some tears as she does. “I’m not sure where you get the impression but he is not that sort of friend.” The woman was surely just saying it as a distraction but then again it was working so that was all that mattered. She straightens up as Din comes back in, “Have you two figured something out?”

Cara looks between the two of them amazed at how easily her point is made. She can’t even see the Mandolorian’s face but she can see that look. Rather than make a comment on it she looks at the kid as if he’s going to say anything. “You see this right? It’s not just me?” The child coos in response which has to mean something. “Thank you I’m happy that someone is able to see this.”

“So did you figure everything out with our friend?” Hela asks, choosing to ignore Cara as she speaks quietly to the child. She hopes that they had come to some understanding because they needed to ensure the child’s safety as well as her own. As much as she wanted to help she was going to be useless at least until she started to feel less woozy.

Din nods, “Kuuli has agreed to keep an eye on the child and you as well. He insists that the droid helps him though. I know you’ve got a lot happening but can you try to keep an eye on that thing?” He asks as he moves some hair out of her face trying to be as gentle as possible. “I’m going to leave you with a blaster, keep it hidden. I don’t want him to think I couldn’t trust him.” He did trust Kuuli of course but he didn’t trust the droid in the slightest no matter what programming the man insisted he had done on it. He slides the blaster to her watching as she carefully hides it away. “Thank you for this… for everything.”

Hela smiles, “You know I’d do anything to help you, Din. Just promise me that you’ll come back to the two of us in one piece, yeah?” She asks before she places a hand on his helmet and smiles at him. She knows that Cara will have something to say but she doesn’t care, with a job like this she was more worried than ever. All she needs right now is to make sure that he’ll be safe so he comes home to her and the child.

Din places his hand on top of her own before he nods, “I’ll be back before you know it.” He assures her though he isn’t sure if he’s trying to convince himself as much as he is convincing her. The job could work and if it did they were in the clear but there were too many moving pieces out of Din’s control. “If something does happen though-” He starts to tell her he needs her to know that he has prepared them for the worst but she won’t hear it.

Shaking her head Hela takes Din’s gloved hand pressing a kiss to his knuckles. “I won’t hear any of that if you can come back from all those other missions you’ve been on then you can come back from this one. Now go do it, I’m ready to start a quieter life with the two of you.”

The confidence in her voice does Din good and puts his mind at some sort of ease even if he does have so many things to work out. “Soon… I promise.” He assures her before he makes his way over to the child. He looks at Cara, “We’ll leave in just a minute do you want to get the ship ready?” He had already had his time with Hela invaded; he didn’t need the same for saying goodbye to the kid.

Cara looks between the kid and Din before she nods and gets up from her seat. “Remember what I said alright? I'll see you when we swing back to pick you up.” She says patting Hela on the shoulder leaving them alone to head back to the ship.

Din watches Cara leave before looking over at Hela clearly confused. “What did the two of you talk about while I was gone?” They hadn’t spoken at all when the three of them had first met now they suddenly started talking when he had left them alone?

Hela looks over at Din, deciding if she should tell him or not. Cara was probably right she should tell him how she felt but she decides not to do it, not before he leaves for this mission. Maybe when he gets back she will but for now, she gives him a kiss on the side of his helmet. “Talk to the kid. I'm just going to sit here and relax while we wait to get back on the ship.”

Din nods before he walks over to the child. “Kid I’m not sure what it is you do- what power you have but I know you do.” He says quietly reaching his hand out letting the child hold onto his finger. “Whatever it is, use that to keep the two of you safe, alright? From whatever it is that we’re going to see here.” When they feel ready they all head back to the ship the ride there is long so they mess around and play some card games before Cara challenges him to arm wrestle.

Hela is dozing in and out until but when she wakes Cara has a hand on her neck trying to catch her breath. She starts to get up only for Din to get up and walk over to the child next to her telling him to stop then suddenly like that Cara catches her breath. Hela’s eyes go wide and she realizes that her suspicions have only been confirmed. “Why don’t I help you get the child's carrier looking nicer. He should probably have at least two sets of eyes on him if he’s going to be around those tools.”

Heading back with Kuuli they work on the carrier but all the while Hela is distracted she doesn’t know how to even ask the question. Finally, she can’t do it anymore. She clears her throat getting the man's attention. “Those rumors you’ve heard of the suspicion you have- it’s about the Jedi, isn’t it? You didn’t want to say anything unless you were sure but you know that it’s the Force.”

Kuuli looks over at her and nods, “A suspicion I am guessing you have had for some time now.” Seeing how unsure she is about all of this he decides to leave it alone knowing that they will have to answer these questions at some point but not now. “How about you hand me that tool and we talk about this later?”

Hela nods before handing over one of the tools. She stays quiet through the rest of the trip getting with Kuuli on his bluurg keeping her careful eye on the child as they make their way to their camp for the night. Once they’re there she settles up between the child and Din helping to feed the child some of their dinner as she tells him a story keeping mostly to themselves. She wanted as little attention on herself or the child as she could have.

They have that until creatures come into the night. Hela is beside them trying to shoot them all down staying close to the child’s container. It seems the creatures are not letting up taking some of the men as well as killing two of the bluurgs. Once they’ve chased them away everything is fine or so Hela hopes. Kuuli makes his way to Karga though and they see that he’s hurt.

Hela walks over to stand next to the man taking out her med-pack trying to help out Tara however she can. “We’ve got this you aren’t going to die this easily, yeah?” She asks the man trying to wrack her brain for what to do, would his arm have to come off? That was something he could survive if they had the right facilities but here in the middle of nowhere it would be near impossible. 

She looks up watching the child make his way over and put a hand on Karag’s arm. Just like that the wound is gone and the child collapses down onto the ground in exhaustion. Unsure of what to do Hela picks up the child taking him back to the carrier hoping no one else will say a word on it. She wants to keep it out of discussion into the next day trying to figure out what they’re going to do. Now that they know what the child can do, will Karga’s men turn on them? Try to take the reward or just leave the group out of fear.

That fear is only confirmed when blasters go off. She turns to face Karga pointing her blaster at him as well. It was the wrong time to say I told you so, they shouldn’t have trusted the man to keep them safe or really do anything in the child’s best interest. She is ready to say it anyways with Karga confesses telling them the plan was to kill them and take the child. “Why are you telling us this? I don’t care if you killed them you could still double-cross us all the same.”

Din rests a hand on Hela’s arm to stop her though his blaster is still up as well. Karga’s explanation is something he normally wouldn’t believe but they had the child to think of. He couldn’t spend the rest of his life running from hunters and neither could the child. “Take me- say you captured me and get me close enough to kill them.”

“What?!” Hela asks, turning to face Din. “You can’t do this- you aren’t going in there alone they’re going to kill you, Din.”

“He won’t be alone because you will tell them I’m the one who captured him. It will be a way to get someone else in there with him.” Cara adds before looking between the two of them. “You ran off with the kid but I figured his head was still worth a decent price.”

Hela wants to protest but Din puts a hand on her arm and starts to speak before she can. “Go with Kuuli and the child you three are going to get into the Razor Crest and seal yourselves in. When you’re inside engage ground security protocols and nothing on this planet is going to be able to breach the doors.”

Kuuli nods before he holds out something for Din, “This is a commlink- we will keep the child safe.” He turns and takes the child and before nodding for Hela to follow him. She is hesitant at first watching as Din walks away but she knows it’s what they have to do so she very reluctantly makes her way to the bluurg with him. 

She holds the child as they make their way back. “Oh, I know little one but Din is going to be back soon I promise he always comes back.” She says as she makes her way to the ship. She doesn’t know how much of that she is saying it for herself rather than the child.

They’re nearly to the ship when Din makes the call to them on his comm system. They’re pinned down and they have to get out now before anyone could get to them. It meant that they would be leaving them behind and as Hela holds onto the child she feels tears in her eyes. She reaches out taking the comm, “We’ve got him we’ll get out of here and take him to safety it’ll be fine.” It wouldn’t be fine though they were going to have to leave him behind. “Din I don’t know what’s going to happen but I want you to know that I love you.” She gives back the comm, feeling a sense of relief though her heart is still racing at the thought. She hopes he can get him safely back so she can hear it back from him.

They are close to the Razor Crest all they have to do is get in but before they can they are shot down. She tries to keep hold of the child but as soon as she hits the ground everything goes black and the child is taken.


	8. Chapter 8

Hela opens her eyes and holds onto her head. Not much time has passed. The sky is still bright which was good or so she thinks. Getting up she realizes the mixture of the two head injuries isn’t good. She feels dizzy and like she could throw up but she has to press through it. “Little one- come on little one you can come out now everything is fine.”

She looks around seeing Kuuli on the ground she runs over and looks at him realizing that he’s dead. “No- no no no no no.” She says running around looking for the child feeling like she was in that nightmare she had been having. “Come on little one please you’ve got to be here come out please come out.” She begs as tears start to fall. 

She checks the ship only to find it empty them who had shot them down; they had to have taken down the child. Trying to remember what had happened she closes her eyes racking her brain. The blaarg was hit and she turned to shoot her blaster at one of them only to get thrown off. Had she still been holding the child or did he fly out of her arms? It doesn’t matter though because she needs to tell Din. She goes to pick up the comm's device isn’t working but she still jams it into her pocket in case she can get it working later.

“Shit.” Hela heads back inside and gets into the ship where she finds IG-11 there waiting for them. “I don’t know what Kuuli programmed you to do but if it is to protect the child then I need your help. Someone took him and we need to get him back.” She gets a better blaster out of Mando’s stash before heading out with IG-11 at her side. Going to save the child with a droid was not close to what Din would want but it was what would have to do.

Seeing the two troopers Hela hides behind a rock watching as IG-11 makes his way up to them demanding that they bring the child back. She holds her blaster close, taking in a breath as she listens to them. Looking over she watches as he flips over one of the troopers with ease then smashes the other into his bike. Coming out of hiding she smiles, “You are incredible IG-11 I’m sorry that we ever doubted you.”

She realizes that she’ll look suspicious so she takes one of the trooper's gear before she gets onto the second bike heading with him away from where they had left the two men. She only hopes that they can do something to help. She isn’t sure if they are going to head back to the ship or just get the hell out but she wants nothing more than to save Din and Cara.

When they are leaving she hears a voice on the comm looking over to see that the child has it. She’s relieved until IG-11 tells Din that Kuuli is gone only for Din to turn around and try accusing the droid. “Din he didn’t do anything.” She calls out though she isn’t sure if he’ll hear her over her bike, now louder after being hit by the trooper. She hopes he will hear though, “He’s going to be just fine Din I promise we’ve got him.”

Din feels some relief as Hela confirms that they will be fine he’s happy for both her safety and that of the child. Still, he isn’t sure if he trusts the droid even as it insists that its mission is to nurse and protect. “I want a status report as soon as you have one.”

They come up to the city and make their way through the town Hela shoots at every trooper she comes across. There’s a grin on her face as she hears the child happily coo and giggle. They have this she knows they do everything is going to be alright. When they make their way to the middle of the town she finds them all there. Karga is ready to shoot at her but she takes off her helmet. “It’s me! Don’t shoot it’s me!”

Karga looks at her and nods before shooting a trooper that’s behind her, “Alright let's see how good your aim is then we’ve got a few more to take out don’t we?” He asks with a grin before he makes his way to shoot more of them with her. They get out a fair few only for an explosion to take out Din knocking him out on the ground. 

Cara takes hold of him and the group circle around her getting them inside where she is able to lay down Din on the ground. “Stay with me, buddy. We’re gonna get you out of here.” Once he’s laid down on the ground she goes to help them get anything they can out of the way. They need their way out because Moff won’t stop until they’re all dead and he has his prize.

Hela kneels next to Din reaching to touch his helmet before she laughs as he seems to look at the trooper outfit she has on. “I assumed this would be more of a discreet way we got into town and thought I might need a disguise.” She strokes the side of his helmet. “I need you to hold on for me, okay?”

“No- no I’m not going to make it you have to go without me,” Din tells her trying to reach up to place his hand on top of her hers. “You have to leave me here El you have no other choice.”

Hela has tears in her eyes shaking her head no as he tries to convince her to go on without him. “Do you remember how I figured out your name?” She asks slowly, pulling her hand back and seeing the blood from his hand wound. She wipes it away and smiles trying not to show how upset she is. “We played a game of cards the loser had to tell their deepest secret. I mean I worked hard for that win only for you to tell me your name. At the time I was pissed I had been thinking it would be some secret lover on another planet or I don’t know- anything else.” 

She closes her eyes for a moment as he rests his hand on top of hers. This isn’t how it’s going to end for them, she won’t let that happen. After years spent with him going out like this? She refused to even consider the idea, “Now I’m happy though because I can say that I love you Din Djarin and I’m not leaving your stubborn ass here to die. You don’t get to die on me like this, not before you say it back you hear me? Now I need to take your helmet off so we can see how to fix this.”

Din’s grip on her hand is tighter as she suggests that he take the helmet off. He doesn’t know what to say to her. At that moment there are so many things he could say. Looking up at her I love you too is the first thing to come to mind but he can’t do that. It would be him giving up and she would only be angrier at him for that. “No- you have to leave without me. You take the child and you go, you keep him safe. I know you can, El.” He lets go of her hand taking off his necklace and putting it in her hand. “When you get to the Mandolorian covert you show them that. You tell them it’s from Din Djarin- that the foundling was in my protection and they’ll help you.”

Hela shakes her head, “No- no we can do this we can all get out here you can’t give up on us you can’t do that please.” She begs as more tears fall. She tries to get him up despite his protests but she has to stop as fire comes into the building starting to fill it with smoke.

“I can hold them back long enough for you to escape now go- let me have my warrior’s death,” Din says to her. He knows it isn’t what she wants truthfully it isn’t what he wants but he has to. He wants them safe and away from this place and if he has to die to do that then it’s what he’ll do.

The stormtrooper comes in and Hela holds onto Din’s body, tears in her eyes, as she waits for what she assumes, will be the end. The child surprises them again though and holding up his tiny hands he is able to stop the flames and send the stormtrooper flying. 

“Go… now go. Keep your word to me and make sure that he’s safe. This is the way.” Din tells her watching as she hesitantly gets up with tears in her eyes. He had to make her keep that promise just around the droid but he knew that he could get her to go with just that.

Hela gets up and takes the child as IG-11 holds him out. She grabs her blaster and takes the child in the knapsack keeping it close as she makes her way over to the exit. She should say goodbye, she should say anything else but at that moment all she can do to keep herself from stay is not look back.

Cara stops looking back at IG-11 who promises to stay behind, “Promise you’ll bring him back.” They weren’t going to be able to do this without Din and even if they could she didn’t think she wanted to. The more time she has spent with him the more she realized about him and she knew they couldn’t do this without him at their side. Getting that confirmation she leaves after Hela wanting to keep her close, keep them both safe.

Hela keeps a hand on the bag wanting to know the child is safe and close by at all times. If she was going to lose everything else she had to at least know he was okay. The other hand holds on tight to the necklace Din had given her, needing that piece of him to keep her grounded, to remind her why she was doing this. It wasn’t just for the child it was for Din because if he had to die he should know that she had kept her promise.

Going through the sewers she stops as she hears footsteps tucking the necklace away with the child and reaching for her blaster. She doesn’t need it though seeing IG-11 come down the sewer with Din hanging off of him. A sense of relief washes over her as she makes her way over holding him close. “I told you that you weren’t going to die on me, you stubborn man.”

Cara smiles clearly just as happy letting Din lean into her as they go through the passageways. Not long after Din can stand on his own leading the group as he tries to find the Mandalorian. He finds the steps and knows that they’re close; it won’t be long before they find them. They are the group's best bet for getting out of this alive they need the numbers. He stops in his tracks as he sees the pile of armor looking down at it in disbelief. Hesitantly he walks over kneeling in front of it he picks up one of the helmets to examine it.

“We should get going,” Cara says as she walks over to stand next to Din. This is horrible and she knows this loss can’t be good for him but they don’t have time. If they want to get out of the tunnels they need to leave now before they end up being followed.”

“You go- take the ship. I can’t leave it this way.” Din says before he looks back to Karga with the helmet still in his hands. “Did you know about this? Was this the work of your bounty hunters?” Karga denies it insisting how the hunters had just melted away but it still angers Din. He makes his over pointing a finger at Karga’s chest shouting accusations at him not wanting to deal with this shit. It had almost gotten him killed and he wasn't going to keep Karga around if he had anything to do with it.

“It was not his fault.” A female voice calls out before making her way over to them. “We decided to reveal ourselves. We knew what could happen if we left the covert. The imperials arrived shortly thereafter and this is what resulted.”

Din asks the woman to come with them only for her to refuse. He follows after her and the others follow after him. After everything that had happened, there was no way they were just going to let him go alone. Besides they were all curious people wanting to know how all this worked, who this woman was.

Hela looks around curiously at all of it. She had wondered about this, what it looked like and what happened here. She is ready to look around a bit more when the woman asks to see the child. Looking to Din for a moment she lifts the flap of the knapsack up showing the child who looks curiously.

“This is the one I saved- he is also the one who saved me,” Din explains as he looks over at the child. The armorer calls the child helpless and he gives a shake of his head, “It’s injured but it’s not helpless its species can move objects with its mind.”

The armorer turns back to her work as she speaks, “I know of such things. The songs of eons past tell of battles between Mandalore the Great and an order of sorcerers called Jedi that fought using such powers.” She takes another piece of armor bringing it into the pile to melt it.

Hela’s heart races and she looks down at the child trying to remain calm. She knew so little about the Mandalorian so she had no idea that they considered the Jedi their enemy. Would the woman suggest they do something- give the child up or see it die?

“No. Its kind were enemies but this individual is not it’s a foundling. By Creed, it is in your care.” The armorer explains before she walks over to grab something. She shakes her head as Din suggests that he train the child. It would be far too weak for such things, “No you will have to take it back to its own kind.”

Hela has to bite her tongue to keep back what she wants to say to this woman. Out of the corner of her eye, she sees Cara watching her, she must have figured out that Hela had something she wanted to say. Rather than say it Hela shakes her head at Cara wanting her to drop it before anyone realizes it. Instead of bringing it up, Cara suggests that they have to leave only for Din to tell them that he is staying.

“A foundling is in your care. By Creed, until it is of age or reunited with its own kind you are as its father.” The armorer tells him so he knows that he has no choice but to follow it out. “This is the way. You have earned your signet.”

Hela watches him place the mark on him and says that they are a clan of two. She smiles as she watches it looking at the symbol that had been put on. It's a touching moment but they hear the blasts and they know that it is time for them to go. Din fills up his ammunition and they all head out to the path that the armorer had suggested to them.

They make it to the boat but the droid is destroyed. Karga suggests that they push it into the water hoping it will get them downstream. It isn’t working to push it out of the way so Cara shoots it out of the way and they are able to get it ready. Everyone gets in and they try to figure out how to get the thing downstream only for the droid to get itself back up ready to take them wherever they need to go.

Hela stays in the middle of the boat holding the child close; she smiles as he looks up at her. “What did I tell you earlier? I said we were going to get him back and we did.” She sees Din stare back at them and smiles, “He had his doubts of course but I knew you would be able to pull yourself out of any mess you got into I mean it’s not just the way like you Mandalorian say it’s your way.” She jokes as she looks over at him reaching to touch his arm.

Din nods before looking back to the entrance using his vision he sees something they don’t want, another complication. “I’m afraid the mess isn’t over. There's a platoon of Stormtroopers. They’re flanking the mouth of the tunnel they must know we’re coming.”

Cara stops the droid by shooting it but they keep getting closer so they have to figure out some sort of plan. She has her gun ready and IG-11 suggests he stop them but no matter what they do it isn’t going to help, there are too many of them.

Hela squeeze’s Din’s arm before she takes her blaster back out. She has no idea what they’re going to do but clearly, IG-11 has an idea. He was not supposed to be captured, and if he was captured, he would self-destruct. Handing over the armorer's gift he looks to the child before telling them he will not be able to take care of either.

Din tries to talk the droid out of it but there’s no use the droid has made up his mind he’s going to self-destruct. “Please tell me the child will be safe in your care,” IG-11 tells them before he looks back to the child for a moment. “If you do so, I can default to my secondary command.”

Din wants to disagree but Hela knows that this is their best shot of getting out of this alive. It will all be for nothing if they end up dead and the child is in nefarious hands. She reaches a hand up to Din’s chest to stop him from stepping forward. “I will guard the child with my life. He will be safe and you can move on to your secondary command. Everything will be alright.” Hela tells the droid watching as he sinks down into the lava and makes his way towards the waiting storm troopers.

Hela turns the child away not wanting him to see any of what was happening. She turns her head away as the blast brings large flames towards them. She takes in a shaky breath before looking out to see all of the storm toppers destroyed. A ship comes at them and she ducks down covering the child as she tries to shoot with her blaster.

Cara tells them it’s no use and she’s right they need some other idea. Karga suggests the force but Hela shakes her head, “He needs breaks between using it… or so it seems.” She wants to give her own idea but before she can Din is in the air having used his own plan, getting himself onto the outside of the ship. He puts an explosive on it and the ship goes down luckily without him on it.

Hela takes in a relieved breath handing over the child who reaches out for him. “Before you say anything about me staying or what should happen I’m going with you. I won’t leave the child alone or you for that matter.” She knows how easily he could ask her to stay on the planet somewhere safe but she isn’t going to leave them after everything they had been through.

Din shakes his head. “I won’t make the mistake of trying to make you stay somewhere you don't want to be again. I know that you are going with me matter what so I’m… learning to embrace it.” He tells her jokingly which gets a laugh from her. They head back to the ship together with the child nestled into the crook of Din’s arm as they go. During the walk, they each fill in the other about the parts of the stories they had missed out of both curiosity and boredom for the long walk back.

When they get back to the Razor Crest they bury Kuuli, a man who had deserved better than what was given to them. Hela speaks over his grave before they head back to the ship and get in their seats. Din starts it up and they fly away. He isn't sure of the destination but for now, he knows it has to be far away from this place. 

After setting the course out he sets it to cruise on its own before heading out of the cockpit to their designated sleeping area. He doesn’t need to rest but he knows that he should make sure that everything checks out. For all he knew, that the droids help could have done nothing for him he could be getting more sick without realizing it. He takes off his helmet and looks at himself in the mirror, something he never really found himself doing. 

Now though that someone had seen him it was all he could think about. Sure the droid was right, he had never been living but it still did make him think. Looking at his features in the dim light he examines the cuts cleaning away the dried up blood that’s on his face as he does.

The lights turn on as Hela makes her way in with the child nestled up in her arms. “I think that the child is finally asleep. I didn’t think he would fall asleep for a while-” Looking over she sees dark hair quickly turning away and covering her eyes with her free hand. “Din! Oh, I’m so sorry I had no idea that you were in here with your helmet off. I swear I didn’t see anything I should- I should turn off the lights I’m so sorry.”

The lights turn on and instinctively Din reaches for the helmet he had laid on the bed but he instead pauses. He knows Hela and he can trust her not to look at him. He looks at her smiling as she watches her with her eyes squeezed shut tight trying to find the switch blindly. He walks over putting his hand on top of hers to stop her. “It’s fine just keep your eyes closed.” He reaches to take the child taking him over to the bed and forming a pile of blankets together to lay the child on.

Hela’s heart races as she listens to him go unsure of what to do. She wants to turn off the light but he told her not to. She had to act like this was okay, as if the thought of him didn’t make her nervous. “Can I ask you a question Din?” It was normal she could ask him a question, right? She asked him questions all the time she didn’t know why him having his helmet off suddenly changed that.

Din turns around and walks over to stand in front of Hela with an amused smirk on his face. “Of course you can, El. What question do you have for me?” She always seemed to surprise him with her questions so he had no idea what she could be wondering about now. 

“What color are your eyes? I don’t… I don’t think I’ve ever asked that. I try not to think about that. I mean I know keeping your face hidden is important to your people but I couldn’t help it. I just- I thought you were going to die and all I could think about is that I didn’t know what color your eyes were.” Hela admits stammering nervously through her words as she tries to figure out if this is even an okay thing to ask. “You don’t have to answer it I just- I just wondered is all.”

Din considers answering for a moment he could really say anything he wanted as silly as it sounded. Maybe she would like him more if she could imagine blue eyes or grey he didn’t know what she liked. “Would you like to see for yourself? Maybe open your eyes and answer your own question?”

“No- no I couldn’t do that to you, Din. I know what that means to you I know what it means to your people so I can’t do that… no matter how tempting it is.” She tells him with a smile. Hela could do it, she could just open her eyes to see what he looked like. He wasn’t directly telling her that she could so she refused to give in to that temptation.

Din smiles reaching a hand up to stroke her cheek watching as she relaxes into the touch though still keeps her eyes closed. “What you said earlier… when we were on the comms and you weren’t sure if I was going to make it.” He starts to say unsure how to put it into words surprised when she reaches up to touch his face with her own hands, eyes still closed. He could’ve melted there in that touch it was gentle and something he hadn’t felt in a long time. As good as it felt though he wasn’t just there for that he instead brings her in close and presses his lips to her own.

Hela is shocked when he pulls her in for the kiss it feels so uncertain like he hadn’t done this before. Then again why would he have done this before it made sense? She leans into that kiss giving it the certainty, the stability that they both craved at that moment. When they pull away she takes a moment to catch her breath before she opens her eyes. She smiles absently stroking his cheek as she looks up at him, “Brown eyes…” They were beautiful and just as kind as she had imagined. “The most beautiful brown eyes I have ever seen.”

Din smiles watching how she takes in his features and it should feel wrong. This is against everything he believes in but he trusts her and he knows everything will be fine. “Sorry I- I was starting to say about the thing you said over the comms-”

“I know Din. I know you do.” Hela assures him before she leans right back in to continue that kiss. He may not have said it out loud but she knew exactly how he felt. Instead, she’ll enjoy this moment and try to remember every detail of that perfect kiss.


	9. Chapter 9

The child wakes, looking around from his little hammock trying to figure out if anyone else was awake. As comfortable as the hammock they made was it made getting out on his own a bit more challenging. Then again after all the trouble, he had caused at the control tower that may have been a planned effort on his caretaker’s part. He takes the sides of the hammock into his tiny hand trying to rock it letting out a displeased sound as it doesn’t work as he would want.

Hela lets out a groan not opening her eyes, “Din, get him out of there he’s ready to wake up.” She was not ready to wake up herself so she hoped Din would do that. She hears nothing letting out an annoyed sound before she reaches back only to find the space behind her empty. 

She turns around seeing the space empty she sighs rubbing her face before she sits up. “Alright little one, let's get up. Yes good morning.” She tells him before she takes him out and sets him on the ground. “I am going to get changed. Why don’t you head up there and see what Din is doing?” She says nodding for him to head out before she turns on the lights watching the child leave the room and head up to Din before closing the door. 

Things were different now but also they felt the same in other ways. Din and Hela were sharing the bed rather than taking turns he would have his helmet off but it was always dark so she couldn’t really see his face. She didn’t need to though she had every last bit of it memorized though she still does watch him while he sleeps sometimes seeing the outline of his face in the dark. Not much else had changed though things felt so normal which was a welcome surprise to her. She liked their changes but she didn’t want things to be too strange between them; they both needed that stability and so did the child. 

The doors open and Din looks back to see the child standing in the doorway cooing at him. “Well hello to you I wasn’t sure you two would ever wake up.” He gets up and picks up the child, placing him in one of the seats before he has a seat back on his own. He checks the screen and he has no idea where they’ll go but he has to start off somewhere on the quest to find the child’s people.

“Good Morning,” Hela says as she heads in patting Din’s arm as she glances at the screen. “You woke up early.” She says before going to have a seat in her own chair. He was an earlier riser than she was but not like this. Now he was just distracted with this mission he was given by the other Mandolorian and all he wanted to do was figure it out.

“I wanted to figure out where we were headed first,” Din explains before he turns to face Hela. He has no idea where he would even go looking for Jedi. He knew nothing about them so it was the blind leading the blind. Finding the child’s people was important, it was now his only mission and he wanted to get it done. The child deserved to be with his people so he can learn how to control his powers and he deserved to feel wanted by more people than just the two of them. “I haven’t figured that out though.”

Hela sighs looking over at the child trying to figure out what she can do. “Why do we have to be in a rush about this? I mean we don’t have a timeline, we can just enjoy some quiet time. Things are good right now, let's let them stay that way for a bit. We can hole up on some small planet and live a normal life.” She suggests before reaching out to let the child hold onto her hand. “We could find him some children to play with a real bed to sleep in don’t you think he should get that?”

Din watches the two of them seeing that gentle interaction, something that Hela gave so easily to the child. He wonders if she’s trying to hold off the inevitable for the child’s sake or for her own. Either way, they couldn’t wait forever they needed to find his people. “I’m sure that there are children to play with and a real bed to sleep in wherever we can find a Jedi.” He assures her patting her knee before he turns to look back at the screen.

Hela exchanges a look with Grogu clearly exhausted by Din’s persistence to get this done. She gets up and walks to Din’s seat, having a seat on his knees so she can block his path. It’s childish sure but she had to put in her own coordinates. While she doesn’t like that idea she also wasn’t going to let him just hop from planet to planet hoping for the best.

Din doesn’t know how to feel suddenly having her there sitting on his knee messing with the controls of the ships. Luckily for him, he had the helmet on so she couldn’t see the blush creeping up onto his face. “Is this really necessary?” He asks before putting his hands on Hela’s hips to try and get her up from his lap.

“Now, now, there's a child in the room with us, Din. Do you really want to try anything with those little eyes on us?” Hela asks before looking back at Din watching as he quickly removes his hands from her hips. She shakes her head and lets out a chuckle before turning back to put the last of her coordinates. He’s blushing or so she thinks, how could he not after little tease there? She’s able to picture it better now that she knows his face though she does want to see him flustered and blushing one day. “I know that you would have said no so I had to get this out now.”

Din rolls his eyes giving her a pat on the side as she gets up and heads back to her seat. Once she has a seat he turns to look at what she had put in. “Yulant?” He asks out of all the things he had expected from her the last thing he thought was some farming planet that no one ever thought about. “You really think we’re going to find some of these Jedi people on a small farming planet?”

Hela sighs as he asks if that’s where Jedis are going to be as if they would have some sort of home base out in public. “No, but I lived there for a while.” She tells him though it’s a bit of an understatement. She wasn’t quite ready to explain everything to him so for now, she would be vague. “I have a friend that may be able to help us with this. Just get to Yulant so I can talk to her. She knew a Jedi forever ago they’d lost contact while I was still there. For all, we know they could be talking again. I know it isn’t much but it’s more than finding the first planet and start asking.”

Something about this seems like a bad idea but Din has no better options so he nods, “Yulant it is I just hope your friend can get us decent information.” He knew this would be a long journey trying to figure out who the little one’s people were but he was determined. By the time they get to the planet, the child is clearly ready to get out starting to whine and shift in his seat. “We’re almost there, kid.”

Hela’s heart is racing as they touch down on the planet. She doesn’t know if this was the best idea since she hadn’t been home since she was a teenager and she is now grown. Would her parents remember her after all this time? She gets up taking in a breath before she heads down to the entrance she has to get out. “If you head down past the large building over there and take a left there’s a town center you can get the little one something to eat maybe he can also stretch his legs a bit.”

Din looks at Hela with a confused tilt of his head, “What is this about me doing this alone? Are you staying on the ship?” He asks deciding to play dumb at the moment as if he doesn’t know she wants to run off to meet this mystery friend of hers on her own. “I haven’t done enough damage to the ship lately to leave you alone in here all day.”

Hela rolls her eyes seeing right through Din as he teases her, “My friend isn’t fond of strangers, Din. I can’t just bring you two and act like our arrangement is normal. I love it but it’s hard to explain and frankly, I just want to get the answers and get out.” She reaches a hand up to touch his helmet. “Have a little faith I can handle this on my own.”

Din puts a hand of hers before he takes hold of her hand bringing her back over to his guns. “You’re taking a blaster with you- friend or not and we’re meeting back up in two hours. If you have to do this alone then we need precautions. For all I know, your friends are about as trustworthy as mine.” He tells her before putting the blaster in her hand. 

Hela knows that he does it out of love so she shakes her head hiding away the blaster before she takes his hand putting something in his palm. “I have the comms up and working again so how about if I’m not back by sundown you harass me to your heart's content.” She gives him a kiss on the side of his helmet before waving to the child. “Keep him out of trouble while I’m gone will you?”

The child bursts into a fit of laughter before he waves back to her. Din watches Hela leave before glancing at the child, “Oh come on kid it wasn’t that funny.” He says before heading in the direction Hela had suggested they go. It isn’t a far walk before they find the town's center. It's small mostly farmers bringing their wares in to sell but there is a cantina they can go to. He doesn’t like this but he has no time to worry about it with a hungry kid to feed.

Hela walks towards the edge of town where her parents live running into someone as she walks. “I’m so sorry I should pay more attention.” She apologizes to the man she’d bumped into before she looks at him. It's curious she doesn’t recognize him but then again it has been too long since she’d been home and he could have moved to Yulant while she was away. “Have a nice day.”

The man lets out an irritated huff watching Hela leave before turning to go their separate ways. Watching the man leave Hela turns back heading out of the town and down a familiar road where she sees children playing it reminds her of herself and her siblings when they were young. Just being there brought back all the painful memories she had tried to run away from. 

She had to push it all aside though she had to try getting answers for the child’s sake. Walking back to one of the houses she takes in a breath before heading to the front door and knocking on it. When it opens she smiles, “Hi mom.” She starts to cry and her mother pulls her in tight for a hug before bringing her inside.

“Hela it's been so long but you’re home… your father will be so happy he’s just outside let me go get him.” The woman says pressing a kiss to her daughter’s forehead before she heads out the back door of their home to go find the man.

Hela smiles watching her mother leave before she starts to look around the home it still feels the same as when she had left. Going into the bedroom she smiles seeing all three beds stacked up on the wall in a bunk bed style one for herself then for each of her older siblings. Walking over to the bed she picks up a toy, smiling as she looks at it. Her mother had made it for Luma but Hela had begged to play with it any chance she could.

“I gave a lot of things to other families with children but that… that I could never get rid of.” Her mother admits as she stands in the doorway watching Hela. She makes her way over putting a hand on her daughter’s arm, “Your dad is waiting out at the table. I told him you may need a moment in here but I don’t know how long he’ll wait.”

“Can I take this?” Hela asks as she looks at her mother holding the doll close to her chest. “I wouldn’t ask but I’m traveling with a child. Toys aren’t really a necessity but he’s little he deserves something.” She knew how hard it would be for her mother to let it go but she thinks the child would like to have something more than the piece of the ship to play with.

Her mother lights up nodding eagerly as her daughter talks about a child. “Is the child yours?” She had just assumed when she lost her children that was it but did her daughter have a child of her own? “I just mean-”

“Technically not but he has no one else so I call myself his family. My… traveling companion and I found him, he was all alone so we’ve been raising him.” Hela explains as they make their way out stopping when she sees her father. There are no words she just runs over and grabs hold of him tight starting to cry all over again. It had been too long and she knew it now as she held him.

“I missed you so much, little one.” Her father tells her before pressing a kiss to the top of his daughter’s head. He strokes her dark hair looking at his wife with disbelief before they shared a smile. Their daughter was home after everything that had happened they had one of their children back and he couldn’t be happier. “You came home and we are so happy to see you, little one.”

Hela gives her dad a tighter squeeze before she lets go, “I did come here to see you but I also… I also had another reason for coming.” She admits before having a seat at their table waiting for her parents to do the same. She holds onto the doll, taking in a breath, “I need to find Luma. I need her help with the child I’m caring for. He's… he’s like her.”

“No- no you cannot bring that here do you know what happened the last time those people were in our home?” Her father asks, his voice rising with each word. He has to take in a breath and calm himself. “Besides, your sister left and she never came back; she is as good as dead.”

“You know that Luma isn’t dead, dad. When Kaol died I felt something; it felt like a hole inside of me I know you both felt it. As much as Luma being taken away hurt I have always known she was out there somewhere alive and I think she can help the child I’m caring for. He is so powerful and I think if she taught him how to control his powers he could be good for everyone.” Hela tells them trying to keep calm, not wanting to get a rise out of her father. He was a good man but the subject of Luma brought out the worst in all of them. “I love the child as if I’d had him myself. He's my family which makes him yours as well and I am asking you now to help your family help me find Luma.”

Her father’s jaw tenses he doesn’t like the idea of her daughter being around someone who showed signs of the force. The last time it happened he lost two of his children and he wouldn’t lose the last now. He wants to talk her out of keeping this child but there is a knock on the front door. “We can discuss how wrong this is after I see who is at the door.”

Hela reaches a hand out to stop her father, “Are either of you expecting company?” She knows it isn’t nearly time for Din to come looking for her. Maybe she was being too paranoid but having the child in their care, it was better safe than sorry. Once he stops Hela gets up walking back to the bedroom trying to glance and see who it is, taking out her blaster as she does. She sees the man who had bumped into earlier going back to her parents. “We need to leave now, do you have a way to get us to the town center? Something fast?”

“No nothing like that we wouldn’t be able to get out of here fast enough.” Her father tells her before looking at the blaster that his daughter has, it’s something they can use. There’s another knock on the door he looks over at it only to look back at his daughter and hold out a hand. “Give me that and you two can slip out the back door.”

“What?! No, we are all going to leave this house. My friend has a ship all we have to do is get into town and the five of us can leave Yulant.” Hela insists only to hear someone at the back door. Looking back she sees them out the window and a blast is shot out hitting the wall near them.

“We do not want to cause any trouble. We only want Hela Aah'valio. She has to come in alive. Anyone else that tries to go against us will not have the same luck. Let us take her now and you can still come out of this alive.” The man calls out before tapping his gun against the front door of the home. “We have the home surrounded, you won’t get out of this like you did Nevarro.”

Hela’s eyes widen and she hands her father the blaster he had asked for before taking out her comms device from her pocket. She motions for her father to say something hoping that he can drown out the sound of her calling for Din.

“We don’t want any trouble from you this… this woman came into our home demanding we give her what we have. We’re just poor farmers, we have nothing and she was not pleased with that. Allow my wife and I to leave and we will let you take this woman.” He says trying to be loud so the man can’t hear Hela speaking over her device. “Please we never asked for any of this; we only want a quiet life. We do not need bounty hunters at our home or their bounties for that matter.”

“Din, I’m headed to the ship my friend ended up not being any help. You need to get back there now if I’m not back by the time you get there lock it up and I’ll let you know when I’m close.” Hela says before she turns off the device and hands it back to her mother. “I’m going to go with them once I’m gone just turn it back on and tell Din you’re my parents. He’ll come to get you- help you out of this it’ll be fine I promise.”

“No- no you won’t do this we won’t let you.” Her mother argues before grabbing hold of her daughter’s arm to stop her. 

Hela smiles at her mother carefully prying her hand out of her mother’s grasp. “I have known Din for years and I trust him more than anything. He has always saved me when I get myself into trouble so he’ll do it again. He’ll get me back and everything will be okay. I promise you just have to trust me.” She gives both her parents a kiss on the cheek before she heads to the front door and opens it slowly making sure he can see her hands. “I’ll come with you just leave these farmers alone they shouldn’t pay for my mistake.”

Her father looks out the door seeing only one man there and he quickly lifts the blaster to shoot at the man. Before he can even pull the trigger though one of the other man who is hiding to the side shoots him. Her father collapses to the ground dropping the blaster as he does bleeding from his stomach. Her mother starts to kneel down only for the man to point the gun towards her.

“Stop!” Hela says jumping in the way of the gun so the man can’t pull the trigger. If they wanted her alive as they said then all Hela had to do was stand in their way and her mother couldn’t be harmed. “You just shot her husband all she’s doing is tending to him now you’ve got me I’ll come willingly if you just leave her alone.” She says holding out her arms so he can cuff her. 

The man grabs her by one of the arms and turns her around cuffing her hands behind her back. Hela is turned back to face her parents and she has to watch as her father bleeds out on the ground. Her mother is trying to console him as she presses desperately at the bleeding wound, body shaking with sobs. Still, she looks up to her daughter watching as Hela mouths I love you to her before she’s taken away.


	10. Chapter 10

This wasn’t good and Din knew something had to have gone wrong with Hela. She had given him a call over the comm warning him of their need to head back to the ship then went silent. Since then it had gone dark and he had no idea what to do if something was really out there he needed to keep the child in here safe. Still, he would go out of the ship regularly checking for her and try the comms from a different angle.

It had been a while since he had done that he was ready to try again when the child distracts him letting out a sad sound as he sees Din pull out the comm. “She’s gonna be back soon kid I promise.” He assures the kid before he picks up Grogu bringing the child with him this time as he heads out of the ship. “Come on- El…. El are you there. El please pick up.”

Hela’s mother had not thought about the comm’s device; she was trying to keep her husband alive. She’d done everything she could but it was for nothing her husband laid their dead and she could feel the blood heavy on her hands. With tearful eyes she takes in a breath she knows her husband is dead and she had to do what could to now get her daughter back. She wipes the blood onto her pants before taking out the device and trying to turn it on. 

Hearing in crackle to life the woman presses the button, “Hello? I’m trying to speak to Din Djarin. Is Din Djarin there?” She asks before sitting back and waiting for a response from the other side. This had to work. She needed this man to save her daughter.

Din exchanged a look with the child, the voice isn’t Hela’s voice but it was her commlink. “Who is this and why do you have this device?” He asks holding the child a bit closer as he waits for a response. None of this was right something had happened to Hela and this had to be a trap of some sort to lure them out.

“My name is Yara Aah’valio. My daughter was taken, she gave me this so that I could call you. She gave me this and told me to call you once they were gone.” Yara explains. Then again she had probably waited too long a lot of time had passed. She hadn’t even considered it because she was trying to save her husband from bleeding out. Her daughter trusted this man though so she hoped that he could save her even with these setbacks. “Please I’m begging you my daughter needs you.”

Din takes in a breath this was bad he’s kicking himself for not realizing it sooner. He could stay there all day playing the what-if game or he could just do something now. “Alright lead me to where you are I’m on my way.” He says before getting the child hidden away in the bag they were carrying him in. He knew it was better safe than sorry keeping the child hidden as he makes his way to the home.

“Where are we going?” Hela asks as she looks at her captors she wasn’t sure why she’d asked, maybe it was to come up with a plan, or maybe it was just morbid curiosity. Either way, her captors didn’t like it and one of them strikes her hard across the face. Taking in a breath she looks up at the man, “Fine you can at least tell me who you’re taking me to. The least you can do is tell me who is going to kill me before you send me to my death.”

“Moff Gideon wants you and he’s willing to pay a high price. I wonder what you did to deserve that?” The man asks with a chuckle. “I told you who wants you now how about you tell me why. All I know is that we’re supposed to bring you in alive… injured is optional but alive.”

Hela’s eyes widened as he told her that Moff Gideon wanted her. “I stole from him. It was valuable and I thought I could use it to get out.” She admits before nodding to her jacket pocket. “You can have it, I don’t care, just let me go please.”

The man looks at Hela’s face hesitantly before reaching to take whatever she had in her pocket. As he leans in she slams her forehead against hers trying to grab hold of him so she can throw him to the side and make her escape. She has to get out now there’s no way she can let Moff Gideon get hold of her. The man hits the ground with a groan which gets his partner's attention. Getting out of the seat he comes back seeing Hela trying to get to the door.l He grabs her by her hair slamming her against the nearest wall.

Din makes his way to the home with Grogu at his side when they get there he sees the dead man on the ground; it's only further confirmation of how bad this was. He sees the woman get up holding onto the blaster ready to shoot at him. He raises his hands to show he means no harm recognizing that it’s one of his blasters, the one he’d given to Hela. “I’m Din Djarin.”

Yara looks at the man lowering the blaster hesitantly as she watches the man. Had her daughter mentioned that he was a Mandalorian? “Where is your child? She told me about him, my daughter I mean. I… I need to know he is safe as well.” Her first priority would normally be her daughter but from what she had gathered her daughter would want to ensure they were both safe first thing.

Din doesn’t have time for this but he won’t fight the woman on it so instead he taps the wristband. When he does the child is shown she makes her way over and he watches carefully with his hand close to his holster. For all he knew, this was a trap but then again was it? Looking at this woman she looked just like Hela down to the smile. Would this woman truly turn against her own daughter? He hoped not because she was all that he had to figure out where Hela had been taken.

Looking at the child Yara smiles for a moment wiping her hands off on her shirt before she picks up the doll that Hela had been holding before she was taken. “I think she wanted you to have this.” She tells the child before she brings it to him smiling as he takes it into his little hands. The top of the head goes right into his mouth but he seems content so that’s good. She reaches out to stroke the child’s cheek only to be stopped when the Mandalorian grabs her wrist.

Din looks at the woman still holding onto the list not pleased that they’re going through all of this. “We don’t have time for this. If I am going to get your daughter back then you are going to have to tell me what happened. I need to know what they looked like, what weapons they had, and where they went.” He didn’t know how far they were going to be it could be too late for all he knew but he had to save Hela. 

“We were talking and there was a knock- she realized who it was they announced themselves. She told you to go to the ship and then gave me this communication device.” Yara explains before handing it over for Din to take. “One of the men had pale green skin the other had brown hair- they were rather unremarkable if you ask me. Let me think of their names, give me a moment.”

Din takes the device looking at it realizing that something is missing. He smiles as he realizes what it is. He picks up his own just to confirm it and sure enough, the piece missing is for tracking. “I don’t need any more information. Hela gave me a way to find her. I’ll leave now to do just that.” He didn’t have time for any more of this woman’s nonsense. He shuts the child’s pod and turns to head back to the ship.

“Wait- wait I want to come with you. This is my daughter. I need to make sure that she’s safe.” Yara insists as she makes her way over to Din. She puts a hand on his arm to stop him as he stands in the doorway.

“I think you’ve done enough.” Din snaps clearly not willing to accept whatever help this woman wants to give him. He has handled everything else on his own. He doesn’t need someone to drag him down on a mission that was so important. “Bury your dead she will contact you when we’re back on my ship.”

Yara wants to argue with him but this man seems to be on a mission. “It won’t be necessary. All you have to do is tell her that I’m going to find what she’s looking for. As long as she knows that everything will be just fine.”

Hela looks up at the ceiling as she tries to catch her breath. Everything hurts and she isn’t sure how close they even are. If Moff Gideon gets her it won’t be good clearly if he wasn’t asking for Din he wanted to use her for information. He’d torture her maybe to death and bring Din into more trouble unless he could get her now. She reaches her free hand into the pocket she’d suggested earlier running her hand over the piece of the commlink she had. Her eyes close and she hopes that he has some sort of idea.

“We’ll get her back kid I promise,” Din assures her as he tries to get a lock on Hela, relieved to see that he has found where they were. She’d gotten far but if they started up now they could catch up. “Where are they taking you, El?” He mumbles to himself as he starts up the ship. He looks down at Yulant one more time before he gets the ship ready for them to go.

When he finds the ship he stays behind looking over at the child. “If I leave you here are you going to actually stay?” He asks, knowing that he won’t have anyone there to make sure the child is good so it is most likely a lost cause. The child coos at him and Din sighs shaking his head, “Alright no trouble though we have to be fast about this get her back and head out before anyone realizes she’s gone.” He explains before pressing a few buttons to get them ready to leave.

“I’m seeing something… it could just be a meteor but we should check it out.” One of them says as he looks at the screen. Parts of their ship are far too out of date but with this bounty, they were going to be able to scrap this bucket of bolts and start fresh. Before he can though he hears a commotion from the area they were keeping their prisoner chained up in. “Shut her up. I won’t listen to this the rest of the way there.” He tells his partner in an irritated tone.

The partner nods getting up from his seat before making his way out to Hela. Having her lying on the ground made it easy to give her a swift kick to the face. “Quiet.” He simply tells her knowing that will probably not be enough for her but she seemed to be all talk.

Hela lets out a groan, he had no doubt hurt her nose it’s obvious as she has to turn her face to spit out some blood that had poured into her mouth. Looking back at the man she doesn’t know what she can even say to him but she has to say something. “I’m good with any ship you put me at. Give me time and I can get this thing looking great. Drop back on Yulant let me prove that I’m worth more than a bounty-”

The man stops her by putting his boot on her neck to apply some pressure causing her to gasp for air. “I won’t hear any more of this. You are going to shut your mouth or I’m going to do it for you.” He tells her, pressing down a bit harder before he’s interrupted by his partner grabbing his arm to pull him back.

Hela gasps for breath having to cough up more of the blood that had been pouring down her face. “Please- Please I’m sorry about the fight I picked earlier just let me prove I”m worth more than the bounty. Let me fix your ship up, you can chain both my hands so I can’t do anything funny just let me up.”

“Lucky for you that’s exactly what we need right now.” The man says grabbing the chain and pulling her to a standing position. He examines her face with a cringe. He'd told his partner to quiet her but he hadn’t been specific enough clearly even if Gideon didn’t mind some pain coming to her but this was a lot. They still had to hand her over to him recognizable so this could be distraction enough and if she behaved would help them she could fix all she wanted before they handed her over. “I’m having problems up front you’ll come with me.”

Hela nods watching as he unchains her staying still as he chains the free hand before bringing her up to the front. He tells his partner to clean up the mess which is good it means that she has one less person up front with her. She’s brought to the front where he brings her to take a seat in the captain's spot. 

“Right there- the screen is not doing well after my partner's last… outburst. Something is coming towards us. I need you to clear up the screen so we can ensure it’s nothing serious. If you do this fast enough I may let you out.” The man lies before setting the tools down next to her. He seats nearby in the other seat not wanting her to think she’s going to have time alone. He will be right there to make sure she doesn’t try anything funny.

Hela nods and picks up a tool starting to pull everything apart so she can pull it back together. She’ll be a bit slower than usual and far more precise hoping that what was behind them was indeed Din behind them. She hears something and without much more thought she crosses two of the wires causing a large bang. “No- no I can fix this I need something to weld it with, do you have something like that?” It’s nothing she really needs but it sounds believable enough and hopefully, he’ll look through that pile of tools long enough for her to 

“Cleaning up messes- maybe I’ll take the reward for myself and make him do the cleaning for me.” The second man says as he cleans up. He’s interrupted as a blaster is shot into his back making him drop to the ground.

Din looks at the cockpit as a loud sound rings out he makes his way over with his gun pointed at whoever it was. He locks eyes with Hela before turning to shoot at the man next to her. When the kidnapper fell over Din made his way over to Hela. He puts a hand on her cheek wiping away some blood as he looks at her. “You told me to go to the ship.” He tells her before turning to check the man for keys to the restraints.

“I thought they may want you and the little one, Din. I had to make sure that you were both safe. You have to know that I was looking out for your best interest.” Hela tells him, holding out her hands so he can uncuff her. Once he does she rubs her wrists taking in a breath. 

“Yes and if you’d ended up dead? Your blood is painted all over the ground, look at you, Hela.” Din tells her, taking hold of her jaw and looking her over to assess the wounds on her face. As bad as they are he’s sure there’s worse on her body he’ll have to get her back on the ship.

“If it meant that you and the little one would be alive at the end then so be it!” Hela snaps right back turning her face away from him. She’s too tired to fight him but she also isn’t going to listen to this, “You would have done the same thing if you were in my place and you know it. It isn’t fair of you to insist you put your life at risk while scolding me for doing the same.”

“So you’d leave him alone?” Din asks pressing the button on his wrist to open the child’s pod. It was low and he knew it but she had to see what she had put at risk. “You would leave him without you so that you can be some sort of hero?”

Hela looks over at the child who sees her face and lets out a concerned coo as he sees her injuries. She turns back to look at him reaching a hand up to smack him only for the man to grab hold of it and stop her. “I could say the same about you, Din. If you put your life at risk it would leave him just as much as much pain. Think of that the next time you put yourself in danger.” 

Din lowers her hand before he lets it go holding out the puck he’d also taken from the man’s hand. “We can fight about this later but for now we need to talk about this, Hela.” He tells her before turning it on and showing that she was the target. “What did they tell you?”

“That Moff Gideon wants me,” Hela says before she has a seat, holding onto her side and wincing. They’ll have to stop somewhere so he can have a good look at her but for now, they need to figure this out and leave. Part of her wants to go down to Yulant to get healed and check on her mother but she knows the longer they stay the more trouble she will get the people of Yulant into. The last thing he wants is to come back into their lives only to bring more death and destruction. Instead, she’ll leave while everyone else's family was still intact. “Not all of us just me. He knows I’m with you and I’m sure he thinks he could torture information out of me about where the little one is.”

“That is the exact reason why we can’t make these sorts of mistakes. I mean all of this Hela? You nearly got taken- we were all put at risk so you could do what? See your parents? You could have gotten killed for that.” Din tells her unable to wrap his head around how she could do that. He could have lost her all for something so ridiculous. “Why did you lie and drag us all the way out here, Hela?”

“It wasn’t just because I wanted to see my parents, Din. How could you think I was that selfish? I was trying to get information. I'm trying to help take care of him.” Hela tells Din, frustrated that he refuses to believe her. She reaches up and touches his wrist to shut the child’s carrier before reluctantly taking his help getting up and back to their own ship. “It was to help him can’t you just trust me when I tell you that?”

“You left your weapon with someone else- went willingly with a captor. Everything you did was reckless, excuse me if I don’t believe that this was for the good of anyone.” Din scolds before he sets her back into one of the seats. He grabs the medkit putting it in her lap before he gets into his seat. He'll help her once they’re away from this ship and this planet. “What is it? What was so important you would risk everything?”

“I-” Hela starts to say before she looks down at the medkit. She’d kept so much from him for so long she doesn’t know if she has it in her to tell him now. “I went there to find someone that could help us with the little one. Everything that happened after every reckless thing I did was to ensure my parents got out of that mess alive. Clearly, that didn’t happen so please stop trying to throw this in my face and call me names I’m in enough pain right now.”

Din goes quiet gripping the controls a bit tighter as a silence hangs in the cockpit. He wasn’t sure how he’d gotten so angry they had fixed things in the end but he had just been irrational. The thought of losing her was too much and had brought out emotions he hadn’t realized. “Well whatever it was you were looking for your mother said she was going to find it. I hope she’s able to if you really think this will help us with the kid.”

Hela looks back at Din letting out a sigh relieved to hear that. “I think it will, I just hope that my mother can find what I need.” She says deciding at least for now to keep it vague. She’ll tell him about her sister at some point but not now, not when they’ve got tensions this high.

After getting the course set Din gets up from his seat kneeling in front of Hela. He glances up at her for a moment giving her an apologetic look before he opens up the medkit. “Lift up your shirt so I can get you cleaned up.”


	11. Chapter 11

“You worry too much Din- it’s been weeks I’m fine,” Hela assures him as he reaches a careful hand over to her while she departs from the ship. She’d had time to heal and her face was back to being mostly intact though she still had moments of feeling shaken. She hadn’t let it stop her though she’d done all the same things as before she had worked on the ship and watched after the little one. Even more important, she’d had Din start to teach her to fight it wasn’t much but enough that she felt more secure.

Din doesn’t mean to hover, it's just something he does seem to do more often since getting Hela back. He wants her close and safe because he needs to know that she’ll be alright. It’s not a good feeling. It makes him feel distracted in some moments but now he has to set that aside. They have to move on with their lives as if they aren’t trying to figure out what this feeling is.

The child coos and both look to him before they head down the road watching out for danger. It’s dark out and the area is shady with broken-down buildings and graffiti lining the walls. Hela stays back next to the child looking at the art on the building walls while Din tells the man at the door who they’re there to see, Gor Koresh. When he steps aside the three of them enter and Hela keeps a hesitant hand on the back of the child’s carrier watching the fight in the ring.

They have a seat as Din tries to get information about where the other Mandalorians could be. With no calls from her mother yet she had to assume that her mother finding Luma was going to take a lot longer than they hoped. She flinches away as the man shoots one of the fighters in the ring only for multiple guns to be drawn at them. She was starting to learn how to fight against someone who pointed a gun at her but that was one person not the 7 or 8 around them now.

The beskar. They were going to all of this trouble for the beskar willing to kill the lot of them. “Tell me where the Mandalorians are and I’ll walk out of here without killing you,” Din tells them, his tone is calm because he knows exactly what he’s doing at that moment.

“I thought you weren’t a gambler.” Gor Koresh says though Hela doesn’t particularly notice that what she notices is what Din does, readying his weapon. The child is ready, shutting his pod to hide away from what would no doubt be a mess. Taking that hint herself Hela starts to slowly try ducking down without them noticing. She would help him if he needed it of course but for now, it seemed best to just stay out of the way.

“I’m not,” Din tells them before he shoots out the weapons to hit all of the men knocking them down. He kicks back the child’s carrier looking for just a moment to see Hela is fine before he is right back to swinging. He’s fighting between two of them having to turn back and forth to attempt to get both opponents when one of them stops swinging so he works on trying to get the one in front of him down.

Hela grabs a staff left behind by someone kicking one of the men in the back before pulling the staff against the man’s neck tight to keep him in place. She exchanges a quick glance with Din who turns back to knock down the enemy in front of him before he shoots the one Hela has a hold on so she can drop him and keep an eye out for anyone else. She looks back and sees the target getting away, “Hey!” She starts to say though she looks to Din who sees it as well.

Din picks up a gun following after the man, able to grapple his legs and pull him back up. He hands him securely on a post. “I promise you won’t die by my hands now where is the Mandalorian you know of?” He asks clearly impatiently, not wanting to hear any more of this from the man.

“Tatooine?” Hela asks before drumming her fingers against the side of the child’s carrier. She’d spent plenty of time on the planet. It was an easy place to find someone that needed a ship fixed. Now it wasn’t going to be about easy work though it was about finding answers so she starts to walk away the pod floating close by her as they leave the man hanging there. Her Din, he was so careful with his words the man wasn’t going to die at his hands. 

Still, he’d said nothing about anyone else's hands so Din turns to shoot out the light leaving the man there in the dark. “That wasn’t part of the deal.” They leave to the sound of the man's screaming but neither party dares to look back. These sorts of things had to happen if people were going to keep betraying his trust like this.

Parking back down in that familiar spot Hela smiles as she sees Peli. The woman tells her droids to back down but before she can, Din assures Peli that it’s alright. A change of tune from where he had been before and a good one at that. “He has had a change of heart since you’ve seen him last. He just won’t admit it to it yet.” She jokes before winking at the woman. Standing next to Din she watches as Peli gets excited to see the child.

“Oh thank the force! This little thing has had me worried sick. Come here you little, womp rat.” Peli says before taking the child into her arms. She’s happy to see him still in one piece and very much the same happy smiling thing he was before. He seems to be the only one in the group that hasn’t changed. The other two seem so different even from just the small interaction she has had. “Hey! Watch what you’re doing up there. He barely trusts your kind. What do you want to give all droids a bad name?”

Din watches the droids for a moment keeping his comment to himself. Normally that sort of thing would just make him downright angry but he was trying to get better about it. Besides, he had a mission and needed to focus so he turns away from them to look back at Peli. “We’re here on business. We need your help.”

“Oh, then my business you shall have- care for me to watch my little friend here while you seek out adventure?” Peli asks before she looks back at Hela. “I could use your help on a rather beat-up hunk of junk a client brought in. The droids and I can only do so much. You know I’m sure that extra set of hands would do us good.”

Hela smiles kindly at the woman she wants to figure out what they’re doing before she agrees to anything. If the child is going to stay back here it may be for the best for her to be there as well. She’s sure the woman can be trusted but Hela is more useful at the child’s side keeping him safe than at Din’s side where she can take on one man to his ten. That and she wouldn’t mind doing more of the work she actually enjoyed.

Peli has her R5 pull the map up showing them exactly where it all is. They have a plan and Din asks about the speeder bike. This isn’t going to be a case of leaving the child somewhere so it means Hela will be joining as well. Peli brings them to speeder bike and once she has the child settled Hela gets on behind din wrapping one arm around his middle and the other holding on the jetpack he’d brought with them just in case. The speeder bike brings a rush of cool air through the otherwise hot desert it’s calming and gives Hela time to get lost in her own thoughts.

The child glances up at her with those big curious eyes as if he knows exactly what she’s thinking. Hela exchanges a look with him and has a feeling he does know exactly what she thinks. As they slow down she fixes the jetpack on his back resting a hand on his arm while they slowly cruise around the small town. They come to a stop and she gets off the bike before picking up the little one and heading into the cantina. Once they’re in she sets him down knowing he’ll want to walk around after that long ride.

“What brings you over, stranger?” The new Mandalorian asks as he stands in the doorway watching the two newest guests to their little town.

“I’ve been searching for you for many parsecs,” Din says though his tone is hesitant which he can see Hela quickly pick up on. He gives a subtle shake of his head no wanting her to react to this before he can figure out what is even happening.

“Well, now you found me. Weequay, three snorts of spotchka.” The man says before picking up everything and heading over to the table. “Why don’t you join me for a drink?” He asks before taking off the helmet and setting it to the side. “I’ve never met a real Mandalorian. I’ve heard stories you’re good at killing and probably none too happy to see me wearing this hardware.”

Hela watches the man pour three drinks before looking over at Din who is frozen still in his spot. She reaches a hand to touch his back but he shifts his position before she can do that. The new man makes a comment about the little guy and Hela looks over at Grogu before the man sets down the drinks and introduces himself. Truthfully she’s ready to fight the man for even bringing up the child but this is Din’s battle she’ll do whatever it is he wants to do. What he apparently wants to do is start a fight as he demands the man hand over the armor.

“Take it off or I will,” Din tells the man sure that he will get the man to give over the armor one way or another. If he wants to fight for it then they will in front of the kid or not. He watches Cobb stand up and reach out for his gun waiting for the man to try making the first move. They’re interrupted by the building shaking. He watches Hela scoop up the little one before they both check to see what’s happening. The entire town shakes and so does the wind as something goes through showing itself only to eat a local creature and disappear.

“Maybe we can work something out,” Cobb suggests before making his way back into the bar.

Hela presses a kiss to the child’s head, “It’s alright little one we’ll be just fine.” She assures him as she rubs his back staying a few steps behind watching Din and Cobb make their deal. Kill that creature in exchange for the armor. It was something Hela would not agree to but Din did without much hesitation at all. They make their way over to the set of bikes and Hela gets the little one situated into his bag.

“You know that may be a tight squeeze for the three of you… I’ve got the room if you wanted to join me over here.” Cobb suggests as he nods over to his own speeder bike. He hasn’t figured out exactly what was happening between those two figures that might be the easiest way.

“We’ve got plenty of room but thank you for that generous offer,” Hela says with a sarcastic tone before she gets on the bike behind Din. They drive off following after the man who leads them to the location. She looks over at the man as he tells them about everything that had happened in the town. All of the dead and suffering after what should have been a joyous occasion. When the story ends they’ve stopped hearing the familiar sound of the creature.

Din and Cobb have their guns pointed before even more creatures come out. Stopping the man, Din calls out to them speaking in another language to the creatures before one comes over and he pets it like a house pet. A few of the men come up and Din communicates with them. “They want to kill the krayt dragon too,” He explains to Cobb.

Hela smiles before she looks over at Cobb. “Why are you so surprised? You hired a Mandalorian for this job of yours, they get it done and they do it right.” She tells him before she reaches into the bag and pat’s the child’s back glancing down at him as he happily coos. They’re taken to the camp and sit around a fire while Din communicates with the man. 

She settles the child into her lap and one offers her something it reeks but she tastes it for herself and then with a nod gives some to the child as well. Clearly, Cobb doesn’t get the hint though and when he’s offered they pick a fight. She opens her mouth to tell him that it’s fine when Cobb throws it in the fire and stands up starting to shout only for Din to light a fire that shuts them both up. He translates before they have a seat and everyone seems to calm down at least somewhat.

In the morning there’s still that tension but making their way to the destination most of it seems to be alright. They leave out the bantha before the man who had done so runs only to be what is eaten by the dragon. They are going to have to think of something else so they make their way back to the camp and figure out what to do. They would need the help of the entire village but if it would help maybe it was for the best. Even still coming back to the town she isn’t sure they are going to listen after everything that had happened.

Cobb brings everyone in the town together in one place knowing that he has to figure out how the hell he’ll even do this. After their fight with the Tuskens, the townsfolk would be hesitant. Still, the Mandalorian said they could trust him which was at least somewhat comforting though it didn’t make this question any easier. When they go up in arms about the idea of the sand people helping them until Din is able to talk them down, pleased that the people finally agree, getting supplies ready to fight. Fighting the monster together and having a peace try that lasts at least for the time being it’s enough for the people to agree so they can keep their town safe.

“The tensions are high do you think they’ll be able to do this?” Hela asks quietly as she stands next to Din. They seem to all glare at each other waiting for one another to make the first move so they have an excuse to get into a fight.

“It’s the only way either of them will survive so I think they will,” Din says before patting her arm gently. He leaves her there so he can give the raiders so information before they all get onto their animals and bikes making their way back to the pit. Once there they work on burying all of the explosives it’s a solid plan if they really can work together this will go well.

The sand people get the beast out before they sprint away back behind the lines of their fellow people. Once they’ve done that the Tusken start shooting arrows at it trying to draw it out only for the beast to start to retreat. The people of the town begin to help though throwing things and shooting at the beast until the creature is finally drawn out enough that Cobb can press the button.

With the button pressed the creature seems to be exploded and people hesitantly make their way over trying to figure out if they really had taken the creature out. The creature bursts from the top and it is cue enough that this didn’t worry so Cobb and Din go up to take care of it themselves.

The child lets out a distress sound and Hela carefully takes him into her arms. “It’s fine they’ll be just fine,” Hela assures quietly watching as Cobb is shot into the air. She looks back at Din seeing the beast he has next to him who has explosives. She thinks he’ll feed it to the beast but the animal tries to run away so Din holds it there and suddenly they’re both taken down by the beast. She’s quick to try and turn the child away from the sight but she’s sure he has already seen Din taken down.

Her breath catches as she looks back and sees Din come flying out of the mouth of the beast only for it to collapse before them. The child looks back and coos happily watching as Din makes his way back over to them. “No warning, huh? You really scared us.” She says before she helps him start to wipe the goo off of his armor.

“Didn’t really have any time to explain,” Din says though he’s looking back at Cobb. They have their things settled and soon enough they’ve got the meat, the armor, and everything ready so they can head back to the ship. He waits for Hela to get on behind him feeling her arms around him; he wonders if he should even say anything to her. He doesn’t though instead, starting up the speeder and bringing them back to the ship.


	12. Chapter 12

Hela has a lot to say but she figures it can all wait until they get back to the ship. They’ll get some rest and maybe do a bit of training so they can finally have a quiet night for a change. Sure they hadn’t found the answers he was looking for but it also meant they would have a chance to sit down and figure out the next plan. She’d check in to see if her mother had made much progress and they could figure out who they went to next but that was all when they got back.

Getting back would be a problem as the speeder hits a rope and they all go flying off of it. Din has to use his pack to get himself steady on the ground before he reaches out and catches Hela. Behind them, the bike explodes while in front of them two people with blasters appear. While Din is still trying to figure out what is happening Din hears one of them say to grab the child.

Ducking away from them Hela makes a run for the child one of them turns to shoot at her but Din is fast to shoot them down before they can. He brings the attention back to himself needing as little focus on the child as he can get. When he looks back he sees Hela with her hands up then another one with a knife to the child clearly she hadn’t made it in time. “Wait. Don’t hurt the child. If you put one mark on him there’s no place you’ll be able to hide from me. We can strike a bargain there’s a lot of value in this wreckage. Take your pick.” He says before gesturing over to the wreckage.

Hela tries to take a step forward only for the person to turn to see her lifting the knife back up. “Okay- Okay I’m sorry.” She says taking a few steps back instead. That was stupid but she had no idea what else to do she had to get the child back.

“Just leave the child,” Din says before nodding to the ground where the captor should put the child. He points to the jetpack and Din nods, taking it off and setting it out. He watches as the captor sets the child down before he takes the pack back pointing the knife at them on his way out before running away.

As soon as the little one is in Din’s arms Hela lets out a sigh of relief walking over to them and resting her head against Din’s shoulder. “You look just fine, you're a durable thing aren’t you, little one?” She asks before stroking his little cheek. “It’s a good thing too because we all seem to have bad luck. You need a thick skull and some luck to survive around here.” SHe jokes before taking the child into her own arms.

Din smiles beneath the helmet before he turns to look at the man running off with the jetpack. He reaches a hand to press a button on his wrist watching as the man goes flying in the air before falling down. When Din knows that the alien is dead, now unable to take the pack, he brings the pack back to them. Once it drops to the ground he walks over and picks it up putting it back on.

They have a long way to go so they split up what they need to take from the crash to bring back. “You know I can carry more than this, you can give me something else,” Hela tells him as she tries to take something else to carry before they head out. 

Din steps aside before she can though shaking his head. “You’ll take what I gave you and nothing else. I’m sure that all of this didn’t help the worst of your injuries that are still healing. I need you at one hundred percent for when I mess up something else with the ship.” He jokes before heading forward so she can’t try to convince him to give anything else over.

“Stubborn man,” Hela says before she rolls her eyes and heads with him towards the town.

“I heard that.” Din calls back out before glancing back at her with an amused smirk on his face. So many were not willing to say what they really felt around him but Hela had no hesitation in doing such. It was something that had built slowly over time but now he couldn’t escape though it really wasn’t a bad thing to him.

“I know,” Hela says before she walks ahead of him looking back at him with a grin. “You were supposed to.”

The walk back to the town is long and by the time they get back, it’s dark outside. They make their way over to Peli who seems to be having a discussion about business though it must not be important as she looks right back to them instead. “You finally found a Mandalorian and you killed him?” She asks in disbelief.

“He wasn't a Mandalorian. I bought his armor off him, though.” Din tells her before nodding down the pieces of armor some he was carrying and others Hela carried. “He was my last lead to find the Mandalorians.”

Peli lifts her hands to quiet the guest across from her who is trying to talk over all of them. “Okay. Well, you might be in luck. Dr. Mandible says he can connect you with someone who can help you if you cover his call this round. It’s what he said.” She tells him with a dismissive shrug figuring that it’s the best bet Mando is going to get.

“What’s the bet?” Din asks, hoping that he can get out of this having paid a low number. Of course, though it wouldn’t be his bet was five hundred, nothing could be this easy. “That’s a high-stakes game.”

“Hey, he’s on a hot streak.” Peli is quick to defend before glancing over at Mandible. The game is over fast though because no sooner had Din dropped the money down did Peli slaps down her cards to show that she’d won. Reaching out she starts to take the pot clearly pleased with herself.

Hela’s jaw tenses and she has to take in an annoyed breath. She hopes that this doesn’t mean they had lost their chance to hear this information. The man speaks and after he’s done they both look to Peli for translation of what he’d said.

“He says the contact will rendezvous at the hangar. He’ll tell you where to find some Mandalorians.” Peli asks before looking over at Din. “That’s what you wanted, right?”

Din nods before following Peli back to the hangar with all of their things in tow. When they get there he gets the meat up so they can start cooking it before bringing everything else to the ship. He looks back at Hela taking her things to help her put them away.

Hela takes his help with minimal complaints before nodding for him to follow her into the sleeping quarters. He seems confused but she doesn’t care. She waits until he’s in then she shuts the door and turns off the lights. “Take off the helmet. Just for a minute, I swear I just need to see you without it.” It was risky with all these other people so close but she can’t help it. He tilts his head and she sighs. “I know I just- I saw you get eaten by that dragon. Please?”

Din has a look around for any other places that someone could see his face but there were no others. He looks at her in that darkness before he moves to take off the helmet setting it down on the bed. As soon as he has she seeks his face in the darkness so he takes her hand guiding it to his face and as it rests on his cheek he leans into that touch. Something about not seeing much of anything made it feel far more intimate and as she leaned in for an eager kiss made him more willing to stay like this for longer. He kisses her for a long few moments before turning them so she’s pressed against the door, tipping her chin up so he can deepen that kiss.

Hela’s left breathless by the time they stop kissing looking up at the outline of his face in the dark. She smiles absently tracing the bumps and ridges of his face for a while before leaning back in for another eager kiss. She wants to stay like this forever but she hears Peli call out asking if she can get some help. Letting out a sigh she presses her forehead against his own. “Do you ever think we’ll get a real moment to ourselves?” She jokes before giving him a quick peck on the lips.

Din closes his eyes and lets out a sound as he hears Peli call out to them cutting their time short. He opens his eyes and looks down at her with a smile. “Not anytime soon.” He says giving her one more kiss before he turns to go put on his helmet listening to her head out as he puts it on. When he comes back out he sees her helping with some heavy lifting and quickly makes his way over to do it himself.

They get everything ready and settled for the night and they stop to watch the meat which is coming along well. “Alright here’s the deal. A Mandalorian covert is close; it's in this sector, one system trailing. What I know is that the contact will lead you to them.” Peli tells them before shoving her hands into her pockets.

“Alright, and how much is this going to cost me?” Din asks knowing that just like everything else it has to come with a price. What he hopes is that it isn’t that high of a price especially after he’d given 500 just for Mandible to lose it seconds later.

“That’s the good part, it's free- well aside from the finders fee, of course,” Peli assures them though there’s a bad part, there’s always a bad part. Din presses and she insists that it’s fine it’s all perfect though she does have to add on one negative part of the story. “The contact does want passage into the system though but I trust them…”

“Fine,” Din says it wasn’t ideal but if Peli could trust the contact then maybe he could as well. Lately, he didn’t feel like he could trust much of anyone but if it could get them to the Mandalorian he had to take that risk or so he thought until she told him there can be no hyperdrive. He shakes his head. “You want me to travel sublight? Deal’s off. Moving fast is the only thing that’s keeping us safe.”

“There are mitigating circumstances,” Peli tells them before she nods back behind them to see a woman making her way over. She looks back at Mando seeing how frustrated he seems to be. “I know I know and I hear you but I can vouch for her.”

Din doesn’t want to do this he refuses but then again does he really have many other choices. Taking in a controlled breath he looks over at the woman then back to Peli. “What’s the cargo?” He asks as a way to show that he’s agreeing but also for curiosity’s sake.

“It’s her spawn. She needs her eggs fertilized by the equinox or her line will end. If you jump into hyperspace they’ll die. She said her husband has settled on the estuary moon of Trask in the system of the gas giant Kol Iben.” Peli says before translating what Din is trying to say.

Hela looks back at the child who is watching curiously. She motions for him to come to join them watching him walk over before she reaches down and picks him up. She walks over and smiles at Peli. She’s handed a piece of the meat giving it to the child as they make their way onto the ship knowing he must be hungry. “Let’s see if we can keep our new friend company.” She suggests as she lets Din sort out the last of the details with Peli.

In the ship, Din tries his hardest to talk to the woman but it doesn’t seem like anything is going to work. Hela looks at the woman motioning to the seatbelts trying to tell her through actions what Din was trying to say. The woman seems to understand which is lucky for them.

“I’ve set our course. I suggest that you try to get some rest.” Din tells the woman before he makes his way down from the cockpit to check out things down below. He hoped that everything could go well so that they could all get some rest. All they needed to do was drop this woman off and then hopefully find more of the Mandalorian.

“We’re… alright you can get some rest.” Hela tries to tell the woman before she tries an alien language that she knows. It doesn’t work but with a few motions, the woman seems to nod in agreement so Hela unbuckles and makes her way down to find Din scolding the child. “Is… everything alright here?” She asks hesitantly as she watches the two of them.

Din looks back at her and shakes his head the last thing he needs is for that to be the one thing their guest understands. “Nothing, it's just time for a nap. Do you want to join us?” He asks before setting the child down in the hammock above their bed.

“I would love that,” Hela says walking over and kissing the little one’s forehead before she gets into the bed resting against Din’s chest. She would like to kiss him again but with a guest on board and the child watching them from his hammock above, there was no way that was happening. “I know that this is all… less than ideal but I’m happy we’re doing whatever this is together.” She tells him before closing her eyes trying to relax against him. “I care so much about you Din and I wouldn’t want to travel the galaxy with anyone else.”

Din wraps his arm around her absently rubbing her back as he closes his own eyes trying to fall asleep. “Do you really want to travel with me- even if you seem to always be in trouble when you’re at my side?” He asks as he traces circles into her back. He knew that she’d led a far more quiet life than this before she’d come on the ship. He shuts the little door to their sleeping quarters unsure how she’ll react to the question but he was honestly curious about it. He wanted to know if she thought that all of this was worth the hassle.

Hela looks up at him and smiles, “I’m not sure why you haven’t realized it yet but I’m hopelessly in love with you, Din Djarin. I’ll do just about anything to stay at your side, even get into endless amounts of trouble.” She says kissing the side of the helmet before laying her head back down.

They are able to get at least some rest before the lights and beeping sounds went off in the ship waking Din. He untangles himself from Hela leaving her and the child there to sleep as he makes his way back up into the cockpit. Having a seat in the pilot's seat he presses a button to quiet it down. “This is Razor Crest, is there a problem?” He asks before glancing at the ship at either side of them. This isn’t good he flips a few switches trying to keep polite conversation with them as they tell him about the changes in the rules. “Thank you for letting me know I’ll… get right on it.”

He thinks that he’s in the clear until they ask him to send out a ping. He has the child and Hela asleep downstairs and their guest asleep in one of the passenger seats. They can’t go into hyperdrive or they’ll kill her eggs it will also just send them right after him. The best thing he can do is talk his way out of this. They switch channels and suddenly he hears nothing from them he keeps his hands close to the wheel ready to run then they ask the exact question he can’t have them ask and Din makes the decision to quickly bank away from the two ships.

He does his best to get away from them but he can’t seem to break the chase so he pulls levers and they start to fall. Their poor guest holds tightly onto her seat and downstairs Hela has grabbed hold of the child and is bracing for whatever is happening in the sleeping quarters. “Din what are you doing?” Hela shouts as she holds onto the wall with one hand the other holding the child firm to her chest as he giggles thinking that this is fun.

“It’s fine!” Din assures her before going back to the controls trying to get them through the canyon. He takes a sharp turn before skidding on the ground and bringing the ship to a quick halt that lurches them all forward. “You alright down there?”

“I about lost my lunch but yeah I’m-” Hela starts to say before they fall down again. This time Hela hits her head hard and passes out. When she does wake up she realizes how cold it is getting out of the sleeping quarters she sees exactly why. She looks back at Din who seems intact. 

“Where is the child?” Din asks as he helps her out looking behind her to see the rest of the sleeping quarters are empty. He hears the woman up top and takes in a breath. “Hold on I’m looking for your eggs.”

“I had him in my arms- then when we fell down I hit my head and passed out. Damn it.” She tells him, rubbing her face before she follows him to look around the Razor Crest. “Come here little one where are you? Everything is just fine I promise just come back out.”

Din lifts a blanket only to find the child eating more of the eggs, “No! No, I told you not to do that.” He tells the child before shutting the lid. He can almost feel the look that Hela is giving him and shakes his head. He isn’t going to do that not for a second. “Just don’t say anything.”

They bring the woman down and try to wrap her in a few blankets before Hela starts to look around to figure out what she can even fix on the ship. She had gotten this pile of rust through many issues but this took the cake. She can do nothing for now so when Din suggests that she get some rest Hela watches the frog woman wrap a blanket around the eggs. She smiles and gives her own blanket to the woman so she and her eggs can be warm.

Din looks over at Hela and smiles he’d hold her but the metal against her skin would only make it worse. Instead, he motions for the little one to make his way over. He toddles his way over and crawls into Hela’s lap before she picks him up nestling the child against her chest so they will both stay warm. They’re woken by the sound of a droid jumping slightly. Hela keeps the child close looking at their guest who seems to have done this to translate.

“This cannot wait until the morning.” She explains watching as the man seems to only get more agitated. Still, she doesn’t care, she has to get her eggs to her husband. “These eggs are the last brood of my life cycle. My husband has risked his life to carve out an existence for us on the only planet that is hospitable to our species. We fought too hard and suffered too much to resign ourselves to the extinction of our family line. I must demand that you hold true to the deal that you agreed to.” 

Din sighs and shakes his head. “Lady the deals off we’ll be lucky if we get off this frozen tomb with our lives.” 

“I thought honoring one’s word was part of the Mandalorian code.” The frog lady says before she shakes her head in what could only be disgust .”I guess those are just stories for children.”

DIn exchanges a look with Hela before letting out a sigh and getting up. “This was not part of the deal.” He mumbles mostly to himself though he wasn’t going to complain if their guest heard him. He leaves the ship through the rather large gap looking around to assess the damage.

Hela sighs, grabbing one of the unused blankets and wrapping it around herself before she follows Din out to have a look at all of the damage. She looks around at everything and takes in a breath, “This is a lot for two people to handle. Din we’re really in a tight spot with… all of this mess. You’re really going to owe me for this one.” She teases before she motions for him to set down the toolbox.

“I guess I’ll just have to spend the rest of my life repaying you for that then,” Din suggests before reaching down and handing her one of the tools with a smirk hidden by his helmet. 

Hela rolls her eyes before taking the toll and getting right to work. “The rest of your life won’t be nearly long enough to pay me off for this one, Djarin.” She tells him trying to seem serious though she’s got a grin on her face as she says it.

Din looks over and sees the child standing there watching them chuckling. “How about you come over here and help us with this?” The child makes some more sounds past the other side of the ship but Din clearly isn’t paying attention to that. The child is frustrated by this quickly scurrying off. “Hey! Hey, where are you going come back here?”

Hela watches Din make his way off following after the child before taking in a breath. “Yell for me if you need me.” She says before getting right back to the repairs knowing they need to get these done sooner rather than later.

Din nods before following after the child who is stopped in front of a set of footprints. He kneels down and looks tracking them all the way down the cavern. “Come on El our guest seems to have run off we should probably catch up to her.”

Hela sighs putting away the tool before she follows after them, “Could any part of the day go easily?” She asks before following after Din who only chuckles and shakes his head at her. He was right to do so. When had any of their days gone easy lately? She takes the child from him, keeping him close as they follow Din. They find the frog woman there in a warm pool. Hela sets the child down and takes in a few deep breaths enjoying the warmth even for a moment.

“Let’s gather these up,” Din suggests as he starts to scoop the eggs up to put them back in their carrier. The woman lets out a sound in protest but Din shakes his head right back, “I know it’s warm but the night is coming fast and I can’t protect you out here.” 

Hela starts to carefully move the eggs towards Din and the frog woman does the same, getting them all into their container. He quickly stops though to tell the child no so he doesn’t try eating them again. Once he has stopped the three of them work together they have to get the eggs back in fast so they can head back to the ship and get it ready for the morning.

“I think that’s about the last of them,” Hela says as she puts a few eggs into the carrier. She looks back and sees spiders start to crawl out of pods. Her eyes widen and she grabs the frog woman’s clothes quickly getting them to her before she looks back at Din.

“Go! Go back to the ship!” Din yells motioning for them all to go before quickly following after them. The spider-like creatures are relentless and Din has to shoot a few of them away. They seem to get far enough away and Din throws some bombs able to collapse the ice and more importantly get rid of the biggest one. 

“I know I said forever but I had no idea that included spiders- maker if this isn’t proof enough I”m dedicated I’m not sure what will be,” Hela says before making her way into the cockpit. When they get the spiders away she straps herself into her seat and they start to get away only for the big spider to come back up, getting their ship out of the air.

When the beast is stopped by shots Din has no idea what to expect but he has to leave the cockpit and check. He gets out seeing the same men who had chased them down now getting rid of the spiders. He keeps his gun pointed at the men, only for them to assure him that they won’t be in trouble before just leaving as nothing had happened. They said it was for the trying times and whatever it was he would take it. “El let's get the cockpit fixed up we won’t be able to do anything about the rest but we’ll do the best we can with this.”

“You’d better live a really long time, Din,” Hela tells him before going out to grab her tools. She does all of the repairs on the inside as Din does those on the outside. All the while the child watches with wide eyes curious to see the two of them doing this work on the ship. When they finish they all get into the cockpit and they make the shaky ride out of the cavern.

Once they are safe enough he sets the coordinates and tells them to get more rest. Hela takes the child keeping him close though she isn’t sure she’ll be able to rest after all of that. She glances up at Din's arms crossed over his chest and head tilted down as he starts to doze off. Her darling Din she’s sure that her life would be far quieter without him but she doesn’t care for even a moment. She would take this chaos for him and him alone.


End file.
